Framingham Heart Study members with higher levels of education age more slowly and live longer than those with less schooling, according to a new study. These results are published in JAMA.
The Framingham Heart Study is an observational study that began in 1948 and currently covers three generations of health trends.
“We have long known that people with higher levels of education live longer. But many challenges remain in understanding how this happens and, importantly, whether interventions to promote school attendance can contribute to longevity”, said Daniel Belsky, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School and Center on Aging at Columbia.
Two years of study results in slower aging
To measure the rate of aging of 3,101 members of their cohort, the researchers used an algorithm called DunedinPace. For the 2,437 participants with a brother or sister, the researchers also examined whether differences in educational level between brothers and sisters were associated with differences in aging rates.
According to their calculations, two additional years of study translates into a slowdown in old age by 2 to 3%. This reduction corresponds to a reduction in the risk of death of about 10%.
The aging of the French population is an established fact
Biological aging refers to the accumulation of molecular changes that gradually weaken the integrity and resilience of our cells, tissues and organs over time.
The aging of the world population is an established fact, as is the French population. People over the age of 65, who represented a fifth of the French population in 2020, will represent a quarter of the population in 2040, then around 30% from 2050.
Life expectancy continues to increase thanks to advances in the fight against cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In 2020, life expectancy in France was 79.2 years for men and 85.3 years for women.
In the mid-18th century, half of children died before the age of 10 and life expectancy did not exceed 25 years. It reached 30 years at the turn of the century, then increased to 37 years in 1810 as part of vaccination against smallpox. A slow increase continued throughout the 19th century, reaching 45 years in 1900.
