The association between educational attainment chronic diseases, and cardiovascular disease risk factors in young adults aged 18 to 29 years: results of the Federal Health Survey 1998

The association between educational attainment, chronic diseases, and cardiovascular 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 investigate the association between educational attainment and the prevalence of chronic diseases and cardiovascular risk factors for the German population aged 18-29 years. Methods: The data source is the Federal Health Survey 1998 (BGS98), which is representative for Germany. The response rate for the survey is 61.4%. Included in the analysis are 616 females and 637 males. Indicator for educational atteinment is the highest achieved school degree ("Abitur" n = 375, "mittlere 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 than older adults. For altogether 11 diseases, which showed a prevalence greater than 3% in the age group 18-29 years, only minor associations with educational attainment were observed. Statistically significantly increased prevalences are observed for allergic disorders in persons with higher education and for long-term headache in persons with lower education. Regarding smoking, obesity and lack of sports activities remarkably and statistically significant education related differences are observed. The percentage of persons showing simultaneously two or three of these risk factors was 33% for study subjects with "Hauptschulabschluss" compared to only 8% for study subjects with "Abitur". Conclusions: Educational attainment is still a strong predictor for health behaviour. This finding should be considered in future health promotion compaigns.