Intergenerational Education and Later-life Heart Health: Variation across Gender or Cohort?

A person’s educational attainment and that of their parents, referred to as intergenerational education, is associated with later-life heart health. Yet, whether the association between intergenerational education and adult heart disease varies by cohort or gender is unclear despite the increasing importance of education for health, especially among women. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine associations between intergenerational education and heart disease prevalence (n = 34,113) and incidence (person-year observations = 274,618) and variation by gender and cohort. The heart health benefits of education increase across levels of parental education, and individuals with high intergenerational education have the lowest prevalence of heart conditions. We find a similar pattern for women, but no differences across gender. There is a heart health benefit of high intergenerational education for the cohort born between 1942 and 1953, but no differences across cohorts. Overall, educational disparities in heart disease are greatest among adults with highly educated parents.