The association between educational attainment chronic diseases, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young adults aged 18 to 29 years: resultsof the Federal Health Survey 1998
U. Helmert et al., The association between educational attainment chronic diseases, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young adults aged 18 to 29 years: resultsof the Federal Health Survey 1998, SOZ PRAVENT, 46(5), 2001, pp. 320-328
The association between educational attainment, chronic diseases, and cardi
ovascular disease risk factors in young adults aged 18 to 29 years: results
of the Federal Health Survey 1998 Objectives: The aim of the study is to i
nvestigate the association between educational attainment and the prevalenc
e of chronic diseases and cardiovascular risk factors for the German popula
tion aged 18-29 years.
Methods: The data source is the Federal Health Survey 1998 (BGS98), which i
s representative for Germany. The response rate for the survey is 61.4%. In
cluded in the analysis are 616 females and 637 males. Indicator for educati
onal atteinment is the highest achieved school degree ("Abitur" n = 375, "m
ittlere Reife" n = 566, "Hauptschule" n = 312).
Results: For eight of the 43 items for self-reported diseases in the BGS98-
questionnaire persons in the age group 18-29 yielded a higher prevalence th
an older adults. For altogether 11 diseases, which showed a prevalence grea
ter than 3% in the age group 18-29 years, only minor associations with educ
ational attainment were observed. Statistically significantly increased pre
valences are observed for allergic disorders in persons with higher educati
on and for long-term headache in persons with lower education. Regarding sm
oking, obesity and lack of sports activities remarkably and statistically s
ignificant education related differences are observed. The percentage of pe
rsons showing simultaneously two or three of these risk factors was 33% for
study subjects with "Hauptschulabschluss" compared to only 8% for study su
bjects with "Abitur".
Conclusions: Educational attainment is still a strong predictor for health
behaviour. This finding should be considered in future health promotion com
paigns.