title: [Educational status and life expectancy in patients with chronic non-communicable diseases].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Suffering a non communicable chronic disease in combination with low educational level and low economic income develops a synergy, which contributes to a poor prognostic about the expectancy of life. A better educational level may improve the life expectancy. The objective of this research was to explore this relation.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2011, was performed. We included 2306 patients obtained from the information system in mortality of Family Medicine Unit 3 of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in Guadalajara, Jalisco. The main measures were average age-at-death and educational level. We used Student's t, chi-squared test and relative risk (RR) calculations for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age-at-death for those who had a low educational level (n = 1936) was 73.24 ± 12.18 years, while for those who had a satisfactory level of education (n = 370) was 63.47 ± 14.51 years, estimating a mean difference of 9.77 years with p < 0.001. Having a low educational level and not reaching life expectancy compared to the satisfactory level meant a RR = 0.24 (IC 95 % = 0.19, 0.30). The projected linear regression for each educational grade showed that patients lost 2.5 years of life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Diabetes accompanied by a low educational level showed a double probability of not reaching the expectation of life.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Medicina Familiar 3, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. liliana.villarreal@imss.gob.mx.
authors.forename: Liliana del Sagrario
authors.initials: Ldel S
authors.lastname: Villarreal-Hernández
authors.forename: Jesús Eduardo
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Romo-Martínez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cardiovascular diseases; Diabetes mellitus; Education