title: Might extended education decrease inequalities in health?-a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health is substantially worse in less educated people, and extended education might potentially improve their health. A prerequisite for a beneficial health effect of education is that the effect is absolute. An absolute effect of education means that the health effect comes about independently of any effect on other persons. A relative effect, on the other hand, only contributes to individual competitiveness in relation to others. Studies of natural experiments of extended compulsory education, and other educational-policy changes, provide an option for the analysis of absolute effects of education. Published studies, however, present conflicting results.
  
  
  METHODS
  A meta-analysis was performed of European studies where the health effects of extended compulsory or secondary level education on low-educated individuals were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-two relevant publications were identified. The meta-analysis indicated statistically significant favourable effects of educational reforms on rates of mortality, self-reported poor health and obesity. The effects were, however, small, 1-4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An educational reform that typically added one educational year in the least educated group was associated with a mean 2.1% reduction in mortality in men before age 40. This effect might be compared with the total educational gradients of mortality rates in Swedish men at ages 30-64. One extra year of education after compulsory education corresponds to a 41% reduction in mortality, which is 20 times more than the absolute effect of education found in this meta-analysis. Thus, it unlikely that extended compulsory education will substantially improve the health of the least educated individuals.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Public Health Agency of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ljungdahl
authors.affiliation: 1 The Public Health Agency of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden 2 Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden sven.bremberg@mac.com.
authors.forename: Sven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Bremberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D017678:Sex Distribution