Educational and Socioeconomic Inequality and Cardiovascular Risk in Peru: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Limited evidence exists on the relationship between socioeconomic disparities and cardiovascular disease in resource-limited settings, particularly in Latin America.

The objective of the study was to assess the association between educational attainment, socioeconomic status (SES), and cardiovascular risk among Peruvian adults.

We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from 24,048 adults included in the 2023 Peruvian Demographic and Family Health Survey. Educational attainment was categorized as none, primary, secondary, or superior education, and SES was divided into 5 quintiles. Ten-year cardiovascular risk was estimated using the 2019 World Health Organization risk charts and dichotomized as high (≥10%) or nonhigh (<10%). Logistic regression models were used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs for cardiovascular risk.

Overall, 4.7% of adults were found to have a high cardiovascular risk, with substantial variation across education levels and socioeconomic status. In adjusted analyses, secondary and higher educational attainment were associated with substantially lower odds of high cardiovascular risk compared with no education (secondary: OR: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.25-0.71; superior: OR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.30-0.73). These inverse associations were more pronounced among men, whereas among women the estimates were directionally similar but not statistically significant. In contrast, SES quintiles showed no independent association with high cardiovascular risk after adjustment for covariates.

Higher educational attainment was independently associated with lower 10-year cardiovascular risk, whereas SES quintiles showed no association.