Genetic confounding of education–health links

Genome‑wide estimates from the Health and Retirement Study show that education, depression, and self‑rated health are moderately heritable and that genetic factors partly explain the correlation between schooling and mental/self‑assessed health (but not BMI). This suggests that observed associations between education and some health outcomes may reflect shared genetics (pleiotropy) as well as causal effects of education. — If genetics explain part of the education–health association, policy arguments that assume schooling will directly improve certain health outcomes need to be rechecked and complemented with designs that separate genetic confounding from causal effects.