(Press-News.org) Over the course of two decades, the lifespan of college graduates increased by 2.5 years to 84.2 years. If they were a country, their life expectancy would have ranked fourth globally.
By contrast, the lifespan of those who didn’t earn a high school diploma remained at 73.5 years. If they were a country, their life expectancy would have ranked 137th globally.
SEATTLE, Wash., Jan. 23, 2025 – Across more than 3,000 US counties, vast geographic differences with a widening gap were registered between the least and most educated, with a longer lifespan for those with a higher level of education. That’s according to the latest analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine that was published today in The Lancet Public Health journal.
The research found that the gap between the most and least educated was substantial and has increased over time, from eight years in 2000 to nearly 11 years in 2019. College graduates increased their lifespans by 2.5 years to 84.2 years. Those who completed some college increased their life expectancy (LE) by 0.7 years to 82.1 years. In contrast, high school graduates increased their lifespans by 0.3 years to 77.3 years, and those without a high school diploma saw no improvement in their LE, which remained 73.5 years.
“In the US, more formal education often translates to better employment opportunities, including higher-paying jobs that have fewer health risks,” said the study’s senior author and IHME Associate Professor Laura Dwyer-Lindgren. “This puts people in a better position to build a healthy life and, when needed, obtain high-quality health care.”
For all education groups combined, lifespans ranged from 68.2 to 93.2 years across counties. The variation across counties was largest for those who didn’t finish high school at 57.9 to 90.1 years, a difference of 32.2 years. The range across counties was smallest for college graduates at 75.2 to 93.9 years, a difference of 18.7 years. Simply put, college graduates in the county where LE was as high as 93.9 years are living 36 years longer than those who didn’t finish high school in the county where LE was 57.9 years. The disparities in LE across educational attainment populations and counties are large even on a global scale. For example, if US college graduates were a country, their life expectancy would have ranked fourth (out of 199 countries) globally in 2019. In contrast, those with less than a high school degree would have ranked 137th.
Geographic disparities were large within and across levels of education. Counties in the Southeast, parts of Appalachia, and parts of South Dakota had relatively low LE, especially among those who didn’t finish high school. Among those who had some college education, certain counties in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida, as well as in northern Arizona, had relatively large declines in LE. High school graduates in parts of Virginia and the Carolinas, as well as parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Nebraska also experienced notably larger declines than most other counties. For those without a high school diploma, declines were especially large in parts of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
However, those who did not finish high school in California had large increases in LE while many other counties had declines. This may be related to the state’s large immigrant population. Immigrants often have longer life expectancy than their US-born counterparts, likely in large part due to the factors that shape who is able to immigrate to the US.
Female LE was generally higher than that of their male counterparts. Lifespan for females who didn’t finish high school was almost 72 years nationally, but for males it was almost 68 years. Additionally, the gaps in LE between the least educated and most educated were bigger and grew more for males than females during the 20 years studied.
IHME researchers were the first to study educational disparities in life expectancy (LE) for both sexes at age 25 in 3,110 counties from 2000 to 2019 for four educational levels covering those without high school diplomas, high school graduates, those with some college education, and college graduates.
***EMBARGO: 23:30 UK time / 18:30 ET / 15:30 PT Thursday 23 Jan. 2025***
Journalists can email IHMEMedia@UW.edu for embargoed interviews with the paper’s author.
Journalists can access embargoed copies of the paper here:
https://cloud.ihme.washington.edu/s/DscekynYiiik39r
Journalists can also access embargoed datasets here:
https://cloud.ihme.washington.edu/s/EMX83qdbtL4wQB8
NOTE: THE ABOVE LINK IS FOR JOURNALISTS ONLY; IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(24)00303-7/fulltext
END
US college graduates live an average of 11 years longer than those who never finish high school
2025-01-24
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Scientists predict what will be top of the crops in UK by 2080 due to climate change
2025-01-24
While climate change is likely to present significant challenges to agriculture in coming decades, it could also mean that crops such as chickpeas, soyabeans and oranges are widely grown across the UK, and home-produced hummus, tofu and marmalade are a common sight on our supermarket shelves by 2080.
A new study led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) in collaboration with the University of East Anglia (UEA) predicts that future warmer temperatures in this country would be suitable for a variety ...
Study: Physical function of patients at discharge linked to hospital readmission rates
2025-01-23
Researchers from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS) recently published a study that found a link between impairments in physical function and hospital readmission risk among adults 50 years of age and older.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 17% of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States returned to the hospital within 30 days of discharge between 2016 and 2020, posing burdens on healthcare systems and patients, alike.
“Physical function is a crucial indicator of underlying ...
7 schools awarded financial grants to fuel student well-being
2025-01-23
DALLAS, January 23, 2025 — The American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all, is championing student health and well-being by awarding financial grants to seven schools nationwide. These grants, provided through the Association’s Kids Heart Challenge™ and American Heart Challenge™ programs, enable schools to invest in resources like fitness equipment, water bottle filling stations, and educational tools to support healthier environments. By directly funding these in-school resources, the Association aims to foster healthy habits in youth to combat issues like childhood obesity—which, according to ...
NYU Tandon research to improve emergency responses in urban areas with support from NVIDIA
2025-01-23
A team of researchers from NYU Tandon’s C2SMARTER — a U.S. Department of Transportation-funded Tier 1 University Transportation Center — has received an NVIDIA Academic Grant Program award to develop an advanced simulation system aimed at improving emergency response in urban areas.
The project, called NanoDT (Nano Digital Twin), will create a detailed virtual replica (or “digital twin”) of Downtown Brooklyn that can help emergency responders better navigate accident scenes and ...
Marcus Freeman named 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year
2025-01-23
HOUSTON, January 22, 2025 — Marcus Freeman, head coach at the University of Notre Dame, was named college football Coach of the Year at the American Heart Association’s Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards, presented by Marathon Oil. The 39th annual awards program benefits the American Heart Association, the world’s leading voluntary health organization devoted to a world of longer, healthier lives for all.
“We are honored to award Coach Freeman this year’s Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award, recognizing his exemplary efforts ...
How creating and playing terrific video games can accelerate the battle against cancer
2025-01-23
Cancer is vicious. In 2025, it is expected to cause more than 618,000 U.S. deaths — nearly twice the combined populations of Merced and Modesto. Each year, almost half of this nation, young and old, is touched by the disease through personal diagnosis or an afflicted loved one.
Jeff Yoshimi joined the 50% when his wife, Sandy, learned she had breast cancer. The blighted cells had spread to some lymph nodes.
Alongside Sandy during one of many overnight hospital stays, Yoshimi drifted in and out of sleep, sifting through ideas ...
Rooting for resistance: How soybeans tackle nematode invaders is no secret anymore
2025-01-23
“Fight-or-flight” is not an option for plants, unfortunately, when it comes to pathogen attacks. Instead, plants opt for “do-or-die.” A deeper insight into the genetic mechanisms that enable plants to resist pathogen infections has equipped researchers with tools to tackle the most devastating pathogens in agriculture. Using advanced RNA sequencing, researchers have recently uncovered how varieties of soybean respond to different types of soybean cyst nematodes (SCNs), with potential implications for developing more resilient crops and reducing reliance on chemical treatments.
Published ...
Beer helps grocery stores tap sales in other categories
2025-01-23
ITHACA, N.Y. – When a grocery store starts selling beer, its sales grow beyond just six-packs and cases: Households, and beer-purchasing households in particular, visit the store more frequently and increase their total monthly grocery expenditures, according to new Cornell research.
The finding has important implications for the intensely competitive grocery business, which operates on razor-thin profit margins between 1 and 3%, well below other retail sectors. One approach to boosting profits is employing “loss leaders,” specific products sold below cost to attract customers to a store and encourage them to buy other, more profitable ...
New USF study: Surprisingly, pulmonary fibrosis patients with COVID-19 improve
2025-01-23
Key takeaways:
Pulmonary fibrosis in patients with COVID-19 tends to resolve, while idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis always progresses
Scientists believe key immune elements – cells and genes – may explain resolution versus progression of the disease
“Both diseases are caused by injury to alveolar epithelial cells in the lungs. In the case of COVID-19, the injury is viral and acute and in the case of IPF, the injury is unknown but repetitive and chronic — so that may explain the different patterns of pulmonary fibrosis progression.’’
TAMPA, Fla. (Jan. 23, 2025) ...
In a landmark study, an NYBG scientist and colleagues find that reforestation stands out among plant-based climate-mitigation strategies as most beneficial for wildlife biodiversity
2025-01-23
Bronx, NY—In the global effort to combat climate change, large-scale, plant-based strategies such as planting forests and cultivating biofuels are an increasingly important part of countries’ plans to reduce their overall carbon emissions, but a landmark new study in the journal Science finds that well-intended strategies could have unforeseen impacts on biodiversity and that, in general, restoring forests has the most beneficial effect on wildlife.
The authors, including New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Assistant Curator Evelyn Beaury, Ph.D., argue that policy makers and conservation officials should consider impacts on biodiversity when evaluating the ...