title: Associations of Educational Attainment With Disability and Life Expectancy by Race and Gender in the United States.
abstract: This study provides estimates of associations of education with life expectancy and the percentage of remaining life from age 40 with disability.
  
  
  
  We used the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, 1999-2011 ( n = 8,763; 94,246 person-years), measuring five education levels. We estimated probabilities of disability and death with multinomial logistic Markov models, and used microsimulations beginning at age 40, controlling for gender, race/ethnicity, age, and disability.
  
  
  
  With college education, African American and White women, and African American and White men, respectively, lived 46.6%, 44.0%, 55.2%, and 50.4% more years from age 40 than those educated at less than the ninth grade ( p < .001). Corresponding percentages of life with disability were lower with high education, by 37.9%, 38.9%, 41.0%, and 39.9% ( p < .001). There was little evidence of outcome differences between African Americans and Whites within education levels.
  
  
  
  Low education is associated with shorter lives with much more disability.
authors.affiliation: 1 University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University City Boulevard, USA.
authors.forename: James N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Laditka
authors.affiliation: 1 University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University City Boulevard, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Laditka
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D044469:Racial Groups; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People
keywords: African Americans; active life expectancy; disability; general education development credential (GED); mortality