Fewer years spent in school are associated with the earlier appearance of the first signs of future heart trouble, a long-term study suggests.
There was a direct relationship between level of education and the amount of coronary artery calcium found in the nearly 3 000 study participants, who were followed for 15 years. The finding appears in the latest issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.
Calcium is important because it indicates the development of artery-blocking plaque deposits that eventually cause atherosclerosis - sometimes called hardening of the arteries - and thus is "an indicator of the early phases of coronary disease," said lead study author Lijing L. Yan.
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