Serum cholesterol was inversely related to education in women but not in men. Education was positively associated with leisure physical activity and health knowledge. Associations with household income were less consistent in magnitude and direction. These changes were similar across education and household income levels. Improvement in CHD risk factors over time unrelated to education or income suggests that population-wide factors such as improved health knowledge, availability of healthy food items, hypertension treatment, and restrictions on cigarette smoking are operating beneficially in all SES groups.
Researchers usually control for SES rather than examine it.
When it is studied, only effects of lower poverty-level SES are generally examined. However, there is evidence of a graded association with health at all levels of SES, an observation that requires new thought about domains through which SES may exert its health effects. The California Wellness Foundation.