Washington, Sept 19: According to a study, those who stay in school for a longer time period have the best chances of remaining healthy, as education majorly influences income, thus enabling people to live a healthier lifestyle.

The researchers say education influences occupation, income and wealth — and with higher education come healthier behaviors, such as good diet, increased physical activity, reduced stress and better use of preventive and therapeutic healthcare.

“Those with less education are more likely to develop health problems and those with low incomes who already have health problems are more likely to see their health worsen,” said lead author Pamela Herd, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist.

As a part of their study the researchers analyzed data of 8,287 participants from 1986 to mid-2002 in the “Americans’ Changing Lives Study,” which conducted four waves of interviews of adults who were 25 years old and older.

They looked at two groups of health problems: chronic conditions and functional limitations or disabilities.

When comparisons were made between those with a college degree and those without a high school diploma, the researchers found that not having the latter meant that people were 81 percent more likely to have health problems, and 56 percent more likely if they just had a high school diploma.

The researchers also established that when incomes were compared those with incomes of less than 10,000 pounds had a 35 percent greater chance of having health problems than those who earned more than 30,000 pounds.

Nancy Adler, a professor of medical psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, approved that the problems lie in disparities, but also added that it was necessary to fix to the health care system in promoting health prevention.

“Health care plays some role in disparities, but less than most people expect,” she said.

“Analyses from CDC data estimate that only about l0 percent of premature mortality is due to deficiencies in health care, either because of lack of access or poor quality. More ‘action’ is in who gets sick in the first place and right now the health system does relatively little in prevention,” she said.

The study is to appear in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. (With inputs from ANI)