A recent study published in the European Journal of Public Health has found a link between staying longer in school and fewer hospital visits during midlife. The research analyzed educational records and NHS usage data from around 7,000 people born in Aberdeen in the 1950s.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Universities of Southampton, Swansea, and Aberdeen, with support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). They observed that individuals who had higher academic achievement and spent more years in full-time education tended to require less medical care through the NHS as they reached middle age.
Dr Sebastian Stannard from the University of Southampton led the study. He said: “This is a fascinating delve into the lives of people from more than 70 years ago in one part of the UK. What we can do is compare the anonymous data from then with those people now to determine what influences their health and use of the NHS.
“It’s like getting access to a time capsule, a snapshot of people’s childhood and comparing it to the lives of those people now.”
Professor Rhiannon Owen at Swansea University highlighted Swansea's contribution to developing methods that made this analysis possible. She said: “Population Data Science at Swansea University contributed to the design of the methodological approach that enabled us to identify the association between educational attainment in childhood and healthcare use in adulthood. These methods can be used to consolidate large amounts of information to help us uncover complex relationships, helping us to make the best use of data to address important and complex challenges in health and social care.”
The research team believes examining historical anonymous data can reveal factors influencing current health trends, such as how many medications or appointments people need as they get older due to long-term conditions.
Professor Nisreen Alwan MBE, who leads Healthy Communities research for NIHR ARC Wessex and co-authored the study, added: “This study confirms the association between educational attainment and health later in life. Focusing on education in early life is not only beneficial in the short term but can impact health in the long term.”
This work is part of MELD-B, a larger project using artificial intelligence tools to analyze birth cohort data and electronic health records. The goal is to pinpoint key moments for interventions that could prevent multiple long-term conditions early on. The project receives funding from NIHR and support from NIHR ARC Wessex.