Genetic overlap in education and health

Using genome‑wide relatedness estimates from the Health and Retirement Study, the authors show that some of the statistical link between schooling and outcomes such as depression and self‑rated health arises from shared genetic influences, whereas the education–BMI association appears not to be genetically confounded. They estimate SNP heritabilities for education (≈33%), BMI (≈43%), depression (≈19%) and self‑rated health (≈18%) and use bivariate GCTA to test cross‑trait genetic covariance. — If part of the education–health association is genetic, policy debates about education as a health intervention need to account for genetic confounding and avoid simplistic causal interpretations.