Effects of education level on hypertension, diabetes, and Dyslipidemia among residents in Hezhang County

TL;DR

Higher education levels are linked to lower risks of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia in Hezhang County, with lifestyle and cognitive factors playing a mediating role.

Contribution

This study identifies disease-specific protective effects of education and mediators like BMI and lifestyle knowledge.

Findings

Higher education is associated with reduced risks of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia.

Cognitive status and BMI mediate the protective effect of education on hypertension and hypertriglyceridemia.

BMI and alcohol use mediate the effect of education on diabetes.

Abstract

To investigate the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia among residents of Hezhang County and analyze the impact of educational attainment on these conditions.

A multi-stage cluster random sampling method was used to select 10,000 permanent residents aged ≥18 years in Hezhang County from October to December 2023. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to evaluate the association between educational level and hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia. Mediation analysis was conducted to explore the mediating roles of chronic disease risk factors and knowledge of healthy lifestyle-related factors.

Higher education was independently associated with lower risks of hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertriglyceridemia (aOR = 0.88) (P < 0.01). No association was found with LDL or HDL abnormalities. Mediation analysis revealed that cognitive status and BMI mediated the effect on hypertension (26.9 % of total effect) and hypertriglyceridemia (73.8 %), while BMI and alcohol use mediated the effect on diabetes (17.0 %).

The level of education is significantly negatively correlated with the risks of hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia. These findings emphasize the importance of education in the prevention of chronic diseases and highlight the potential pathways for targeted intervention measures.

•Education negatively associated with the detection rates of chronic conditions.•Protective effect of education is disease-specific.•Cognitive status, lifestyle mediate education's protective effect.

Education negatively associated with the detection rates of chronic conditions.

Protective effect of education is disease-specific.

Cognitive status, lifestyle mediate education's protective effect.