People who spend more time in education are less likely to develop heart disease including heart attacks and heart failure, experts have found.

A new study showed that people who stayed in education for longer were 30 per cent less likely to develop coronary heart disease.

Researchers examined the 162 genetic variants which are linked to education.

Their study, published in The British Medical Journal (The BMJ), found that people with more of these educational DNA markers, and therefore more years in education, were less likely to develop coronary heart disease.

Increasing the number of years that people spend in education may lower their risk of developing coronary heart disease by a “substantial” amount, the authors said.

The international team of researchers from University College London, the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and the University of Oxford, analysed genetic variants among 543,733 predominantly European men and women.

They found that 3.6 years of additional education, which is similar to an undergraduate university degree, was associated with a one-third lower risk of coronary heart disease.

And having a genetic predisposition towards longer time spent in education was also linked to a lower body mass index.

These people were also less likely to smoke and have a more favourable blood fat profile.

The findings suggest that increasing time spent in education may result in “substantial health benefits”, the authors wrote.

“Increasing the number of years that people spend in the educational system may lower their risk of subsequently developing coronary heart disease by a substantial degree,” they said.

“These findings should stimulate policy discussions about increasing educational attainment in the general population to improve population health.”

Coronary heart disease occurs when the coronary arteries become narrowed by a gradual build-up of fatty material.

The main symptoms of coronary heart disease include angina, heart attacks and heart failure.