Women show a closer association between educational level and hypertension or diabetes mellitus than males: a secondary analysis from the Austrian HIS

Abstract

BackgroundLifestyle diseases and cardiovascular complications are dramatically increasing, but little is known about the impact of educational level and health behaviour in men and women in different populations. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between educational level (EL) and self-reported chronic diseases and health behaviour in both sexes.MethodsData were derived from the Austrian Health Interview Surveys 2006/2007, which includes 13 558 persons (50.9% females). The associations between EL and the risk of obesity, hypertension, diabetes, myocardial infarction, stroke and anxiety disorders or depression, nutrition, exercise, and smoking were evaluated. University education served as the reference category (EL4), the lowest educational level was required schooling only (EL0).ResultsOnly among women did the risk for diabetes mellitus and hypertension increase with decreasing educational level with the highest rates for EL0 OR [95% CI] adjusted for age, income, family status and lifestyle: 3.7 [1.7-8.0], and 2.5 [1.8-3.5], respectively. Only among the men, however, did the risk for stroke increase with decreasing educational level adjusted OR for EL0: 8.5 [1.7-42.7]. For anthropometric measures and lifestyle factors in both sexes the risk increased with decreasing EL.ConclusionEL affects lifestyle, overweight and obesity in both sexes. The apparent sex-specific differences in the association between the prevalence of some chronic disease with EL call for further investigation.

Prevalence and risk factors of hypertension: A nationwide cross‐sectional study in Lebanon

“…The advantage of education as a measure of SES is that it can be reliably recalled and unaffected by later adult health. Education level was suggested as the most important SES factor with an impact on HTN, and data from studies conducted in many countries (United States, Jamaica, Korea, Austria) found this association in women only . Although the reasons for the gender‐related difference remain unclear, individuals with lower education may exhibit unhealthy dietary and lifestyle behaviors (smoking, exercise, and alcohol) as well as less psychological support, increasing the risk of HTN .…”

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