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By Neha Mathur Jan 26 2024 Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM

In a recent systematic review and meta-analysis published in The Lancet Public Health, researchers assessed the effect of education on all-cause mortality risk in adults on a global scale.

Study:  Effects of education on adult mortality: a global systematic review and meta-analysis . Image Credit: Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock.com Background

There is a link between increased schooling and better health; however, studies have not estimated the magnitude of this relationship globally.

It is one of the most crucial health determinants, besides technological progress, access to quality healthcare, clean water and sanitation, and labor rights. Besides health, education drives socioeconomic empowerment across all genders.

Thus, the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4.1 & 4.3, adopted in 2015, specifically ensure primary and secondary education for children and tertiary education for adults.

Education of adults, especially maternal education, has been shown to reduce mortality in children aged ≤5 by 3% and parental education by 1.6%. About the study

Researchers thoroughly searched seven databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus, to name a few, and identified all research publications assessing all-cause mortality as an outcome and years of schooling as an independent variable. They retrieved all papers from January 1, 1980 to June 16, 2023.

Two teams of reviewers then assessed these studies for individual-level data on education and mortality.

One person extracted data into a standard template derived from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD).  Related StoriesSignificant link found between recent weight loss and increased cancer riskLow back pain? Theres good and bad newsNon-communicable diseases and external causes of death are major contributors to the risk of mortality in people with OCD

Next, they implemented mixed-effects meta-regression models to address between-study heterogeneity, adjusting for study-level covariates, including age, sex, and marital status, and reporting uncertainty in its estimation. They also generated funnel plots to assess publication or reporting bias. Results

This systematic review was the most comprehensive qualitative synthesis of articles with individual-level data, not restricted to any country or period; additionally, it exceeded the scale of previous research on educational attainment and mortality.

The authors identified 17,094 unique papers, of which 603 met the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the analysis. These papers covered 10,355 observations from 59 countries.

The observed relationship of all-cause adult mortality with education was dose-dependent, with an average reduction in mortality risk of 1·9% per additional year of schooling.

On average, an adult with 12 years of schooling was at 24·5% lowered risk of mortality than an adult who never went to school.

This effect was greater in younger people than in older adults. Accordingly, the average reduction in mortality risk related to an additional year of education for adults aged 18–49 years and 70+ was 2.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

However, educational inequalities in mortality were persistent across the entire lifespan, and this pattern remained the same across birth cohorts and periods.

The protective effect of educational attainment on all-cause adult mortality by gender or Socio-demographic Index level did not vary; however, this observation requires further investigation. 

On the other hand, the effects of education on mortality risk are comparable to other high-impact social determinants, underscoring the benefits of increased investment in education on future population health.

For example, the risk of all-cause mortality for an adult with no education compared with 18 years of education is similar to a person who currently smokes (5 pack-years) compared to a nonsmoker (RR ~1·52), underscoring the crucial importance of increased and equitable educational attainment as a global health goal.  Conclusions

This study adds to the limited body of scientific work on inequitable adult all-cause mortality globally, further corroborating previous evidence that low education is a risk factor for adult mortality.

In this study, the protective effect of higher education on mortality was stable and did not weaken in economic contexts or with age, gender, and over time. 

Thus, increasing years of schooling can help counteract growing disparities in adult mortality rates.

Continued investments in educational institutions worldwide are the need of the hour and should be viewed as investments in future public health. Journal reference:

IHME-CHAIN Collaborators*, Effects of education on adult mortality: a global systematic review and meta-analysis, Lancet Public Health, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2468-2667(23)00306-7. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(23)00306-7/fulltext

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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