Low education increases risk of heart disease
While in general, fewer Norwegians have suffered from cardiovascular disease, women with lower education levels show an increasing risk.
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Health workers in Norway are identifying a growing difference between education level and number of heart attacks: the lower the level of education completed, the higher the risk of attack.
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Professor Grethe Tell from the Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care says that the largest difference is seen in women less than 70 years of age. Women with the lowest levels of education have three times the risk of heart attack compared to those with the highest levels. She goes on to explain that while there has been a trend of a decreasing number of heart attacks in general for Norwegians over 45 in the last 10 years, the number of hospital visits for people under 45 has increased. She says that this may be a result of the popularity of low carbohydrate diets that increase the intake of animal fats.
Tell is the leader of a large research project, Cardiovascular Disease in Norway (CVDNOR). The Cardiovascular Disease in Norway (CVDNOR) – project is a collaborative project between the University of Bergen and the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (Kunnskapssenteret). She was also the leader of an expert group that delivered a report to the Norwegian Health Ministry in 2013.
