Educational attainment and allostatic load in later life: Evidence using genetic markers.

ABSTRACT: Education is strongly correlated with health outcomes in older adulthood. Whether the impact of education expansion improves health remains unclear due to a lack of clarity over the causal relationship. Previous health research within the social sciences has tended to use specific activities of daily living or self-reported health status. This study uses a broader and objective health measure - allostatic load (AL) - to take into consideration the exposures that accumulate throughout the life course. This paper applies a Mendelian Randomization (MR) approach to identify causality in relation to education on health as measured by AL. Using the Health and Retirement Study 2008 (N=3935), we adopt a polygenic score built from genetic variants associated with years of education. To test whether

SUBMITTER: Ding X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6913517 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature