Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
Labour Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki, Finland.
Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2020 Jul;30(7):1194-1204. doi: 10.1111/sms.13653. Epub 2020 Mar 29.
Physical inactivity is a major health risk worldwide. Observational studies suggest that higher education is positively related to physical activity, but it is not clear whether this relationship constitutes a causal effect. Using participants (N = 1651) drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to nationwide administrative data from Statistics Finland, this study examined whether educational attainment, measured by years of education, is related to adulthood physical activity in terms of overall physical activity, weekly hours of intensive activity, total steps per day, and aerobic steps per day. We employed ordinary least squares (OLS) models and extended the analysis using an instrumental variables approach (Mendelian randomization, MR) with a genetic risk score as an instrument for years of education. Based on the MR results, it was found that years of education is positively related to physical activity. On average, one additional year of education leads to a 0.62-unit higher overall physical activity (P < .01), 0.26 more hours of weekly intensive activity (P < .05), 560 more steps per day (P < .10), and 390 more aerobic steps per day (P < .09). The findings indicate that education may be a factor leading to higher leisure-time physical activity and thus promoting global health.
身体活动不足是全球范围内的一个主要健康风险。观察性研究表明，较高的教育水平与身体活动呈正相关，但尚不清楚这种关系是否构成因果效应。本研究利用来自芬兰统计署全国行政数据链接的“芬兰年轻人心血管风险研究”中的参与者（N=1651），考察了以受教育年限衡量的教育程度是否与成年期的总体身体活动、每周剧烈活动时间、每日总步数和每日有氧运动步数有关。我们采用了普通最小二乘法（OLS）模型，并使用遗传风险评分作为受教育年限的工具进行了工具变量分析（孟德尔随机化，MR），对分析结果进行了扩展。基于 MR 结果，发现受教育年限与身体活动呈正相关。平均而言，每增加一年的教育会导致总体身体活动增加 0.62 个单位（P<0.01），每周剧烈活动时间增加 0.26 小时（P<0.05），每日总步数增加 560 步（P<0.10），每日有氧运动步数增加 390 步（P<0.09）。这些发现表明，教育可能是导致休闲时间身体活动增加从而促进全球健康的一个因素。
