Study one of few to look at maternal and paternal education,
finding protective effects of both
SEATTLE, June 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study
conducted by researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation (IHME) at the University of
Washington School of Medicine and the Centre for Global
Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN) found significant reductions
in children's risk of death associated with more years of parental
education.
According to the study, a single year of maternal education
reduced the risk of death for children under 5 years of age by 3%,
and children born to mothers with 12 years of education are more
than 30% less likely to die before age 5, compared to those born to
mothers with zero years of education. Twelve years of paternal
education reduced the risk of under-5 mortality by 17% compared to
no years of education.
"This research is exciting because of the consistency of
positive effects of education across geographies and time," said
Hunter York, the study's lead
author. "While this evidence isn't causal, it points to a
relationship that goes beyond the influence of behaviors correlated
with lower education, such as smoking, or policy interventions
which aim to improve child survival regardless of parental
education level, like free family planning. These are important
mechanisms affecting the relationship between education and child
health, but our results suggest a beneficial function of education
in and of itself."
The study authors highlighted the importance of further research
on paternal education, which has been studied far less than
maternal education.
"Even after controlling for a mother's education, the father's
education still matters," said Professor Emmanuela Gakidou, one of the senior authors on
the study. "The majority of studies look only at maternal years of
education, but it is crucial to understand and analyze the
connection between the two, and not to discount the contribution of
paternal education to child survival."
Over 300 studies from 92 countries were included in the
analysis, capturing over three million live births. The researchers
found that the protective effect of parental schooling strengthened
as a child's age increased, but was significant for all age groups
under 5 years.
- For neonates (0-27 days), each additional year of maternal
education reduced mortality risk by 1.5%. Each year of paternal
education reduced risk by 1.1%.
- For infants (1-11 months), each year of maternal education
reduced mortality risk by 3.7%. Each year of paternal education
reduced risk by 1.8%.
- For young children (1-4 years), each year of maternal education
reduced mortality risk by 4.4%. Each year of paternal education
reduced risk by 2.2%.
The relationship was present across regions and after
controlling for wealth or income, partner's education level, and
the sex of the child.
"Further reductions in child mortality are needed, and
investments in education may be key to achieving this," said CHAIN
leader Professor Terje Andreas
Eikemo. "It is time that education is brought onto the
international policy agenda as a global determinant of child
survival."
Importantly, the study also found that the impact of each
additional year of education on child survival remained the same
for primary, secondary, and tertiary education – indicating that a
focus on only primary education misses opportunities to reduce the
number of under-5 deaths and give children the best chance of
survival.
"Even across generations, education and health are linked," said
Kam Sripada, one of the study's lead
authors. "Universal access to quality schooling must be a priority
from the earliest years into higher education, both to support the
current generation in reaching its potential and to help the next
generation survive and thrive."
The study was funded by the Norwegian Research Council, the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Rockefeller
Foundation-Boston University Commission
on Social Determinants, Data, and Decision Making (3-D
Commission).
Contact: media@healthdata.org
About the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an
independent global health research organization at the University of Washington School of Medicine that
provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most
important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to
address them. IHME is committed to transparency and makes this
information widely available so that policymakers have the evidence
they need to make informed decisions on allocating resources to
improve population health.
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