Going to university halves the heart disease risk for women

GOING to university slashes the chances of getting heart disease – particularly among women, say scientists.

People with the worst education were much more likely to develop cardiovascular problems such as a heart attack or stroke, a US study showed.

Female graduates’ risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) was only 28 per cent, which was almost half that of those who did not go to university, who had a 51 per cent risk.

Men who went to university had a lifetime CVD risk of 42 per cent – compared to 59 per cent for those who didn’t. The research, published by JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at 13,948 white and African-American participants who were 45 to 64 years old at the start and free of CVD.

They followed them from 1987 to 2013 to see which participants had CVD events. Dr Yasuhiko Kubota, of Minnesota University, said: ‘More than one in two individuals with less than high school education had a CVD event during his or her lifetime.’

Medical experts say better educated people are more likely to choose healthier lifestyles and also have more frequent health checks than the average population.