A report examined three measures of average life span: life expectancy at birth (mean age at death), median age at death, and modal age at death. The most common age at death in England and Wales in 2010 was 85 for men and 89 for women. Over the previous 50 years (1960–2010) the average life span had increased by around 10 years for a man and 8 years for a woman.
Source: Mortality in England and Wales: Average life span, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Dec
A report examined Scotland s mortality position relative to 19 other (mainly western European) countries. It highlighted concerns over levels of mortality among people aged 15–44 and older women.
Source: Bruce Whyte and 'Tomi Ajetunmobi, Still 'The Sick Man of Europe'? Scottish mortality in a European context 1950–2010: An analysis of comparative mortality trends, Glasgow Centre for Population Health
Links: Report | Summary | BBC report
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined whether trends in local employment rates were relevant for mortality and morbidity outcomes in England, and whether trends were stronger predictors of these outcomes than employment rates measured at one point in time. Compared to areas with continuously high employment rates, the risk of mortality and morbidity was higher in areas with persistently low or declining employment rates. This suggested that long-term trends in local employment rates were useful as predictors of mortality and morbidity differences.
Source: Mylene Riva and Sarah Curtis, 'Long-term local area employment rates as predictors of individual mortality and morbidity: a prospective study in England, spanning more than two decades', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 66 Number 10
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Sep
A report said that the proportion of people's lives spent in very good or good general health was increasing in England and Wales but, on the whole, falling in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Healthy life expectancy increased overall by more than two years in the period 2008–2010 compared with 2005–2007. Males were spending a greater proportion of their lives in favourable health compared with females: but in recent years this gap had narrowed as the health of females had improved more rapidly than that of males. Males and females could expect to spend more than 80 per cent of their lives in very good or good general health from birth, falling to around 57 per cent at age 65.
Source: Health Expectancies at Birth and at Age 65 in the United Kingdom, 2008–2010, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Aug
An article sought to identify explanations for the higher mortality in Scotland relative to other European countries, and to synthesize those best supported by evidence into an overall explanatory framework. The reasons for the high Scottish mortality between 1950 and 1980 were unclear, but might be linked to particular industrial, employment, housing, and cultural patterns. From 1980 onwards, the higher mortality was most likely to be accounted for by a synthesis that began from the changed political context of the 1980s, and the consequent hopelessness and community disruption experienced. This might have relevance to faltering health improvement in other countries.
Source: Gerry McCartney, Chik Collins, David Walsh, and David Batty, 'Why the Scots die younger: synthesizing the evidence', Public Health, Volume 126 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
A paper examined the links between education, income, smoking, and mortality for people aged 65 and over. The effect of smoking on mortality was found to be large compared with that of income. Policies designed to reduce mortality by discouraging smoking were much more powerful than policies designed to influence living standards.
Source: Silvia Lui and Martin Weale, The Trade-Off Between Income and Smoking As Influences on Mortality: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey for men and women aged sixty-five and over, Discussion Paper 395, National Institute for Economic and Social Research
Links: Discussion Paper
Date: 2012-Jun
A report said that there was a clear north-south divide in estimates of life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy. For a man living in the north east, from the age of 16 the average expected disability-free years were 45.3, whereas for a man in the south east it was 51.5 years. The impending increase in the state pension age was therefore likely to have different implications for the length of retirement that was spent disability-free in different regions.
Source: Disability-Free Life Expectancy, Sub-National Estimates for England, 2007-09, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | ONS press release
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined the degree of variation in socio-demographic factors among deprivation deciles, and how variables associated with deaths differed among the most deprived areas. Understanding variations in death rates between deprived areas required greater consideration of their socio-demographic diversity – including their population density, ethnicity, and migration.
Source: Helena Tunstall, Richard Mitchell, Julia Gibbs, Stephen Platt, and Danny Dorling, 'Socio-demographic diversity and unexplained variation in death rates among the most deprived parliamentary constituencies in Britain', Journal of Public Health, Volume 34 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
An article compared the deprivation and mortality profiles of Glasgow (Scotland) and Belfast (Northern Ireland). All-cause mortality in Glasgow was 27 per cent higher for deaths under 65 years of age, and 18 per cent higher for deaths at all ages. But total levels of deprivation were only slightly higher in Glasgow than in Belfast.
Source: P Graham, David Walsh, and Gerry McCartney, 'Shipyards and sectarianism: how do mortality and deprivation compare in Glasgow and Belfast?', Public Health, Volume 126 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
An article examined the distribution of multimorbidity, and of comorbidity of physical and mental health disorders, in relation to age and socio-economic deprivation in Scotland. Onset of multimorbidity occurred 10-15 years earlier in people living in the most deprived areas compared with the most affluent, with socio-economic deprivation particularly associated with multimorbidity that included mental health disorders. These findings challenged the single-disease framework by which most healthcare, medical research, and medical education was configured. A complementary strategy was needed, supporting generalist clinicians to provide personalized, comprehensive continuity of care, especially in socio-economically deprived areas.
Source: Karen Barnett, Stewart Mercer, Michael Norbury, Graham Watt, Sally Wyke, and Bruce Guthrie, 'Epidemiology of multimorbidity and implications for health care, research, and medical education: a cross-sectional study', The Lancet 10 May 2012
Links: Abstract | Dundee University press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-May
A report said that around one-third of babies born in 2012 in the United Kingdom were expected to survive to celebrate their 100th birthday. More than 95,000 people aged 65 in 2012 were expected to celebrate their 100th birthday in 2047. The total number of centenarians was projected to rise from 14,500 in 2012 to 110,000 in 2035.
Source: What Are the Chances of Surviving to Age 100?, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper examined a possible solution to the problem that mortality rates based on the British Household Panel Survey were lower than those computed from registration of deaths – the main source of this error being likely to be a failure to distinguish non-response due to unreported death from other forms of non-response.
Source: Silvia Lui, James Mitchell, and Martin Weale, Mortality in the British Panel Household Survey: a test of a standard treatment for non-response, Discussion Paper 384, National Institute for Economic and Social Research
Links: Discussion paper
Date: 2012-Feb
New data was published on health inequalities and the social determinants of health for the 150 'upper tier' local authority areas in England. Although life expectancy had improved between 2007-2009 and 2008-2010 for most areas, inequalities within them had also increased. The amount by which the gap in life expectancy varied between the wealthiest neighbourhoods and the most deprived had risen in the majority of the local authorities, for both men (104/150) and women (92/150).
Source: Press release 15 February 2012, Institute of Health Equity (University College, London)
Links: IHE press release | Statistical table | Guide to indicators | 4Children press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Feb
In 2010 the age-standardized mortality rates in the United Kingdom for males and females were 655 and 467 deaths per 100,000 population respectively – the lowest rates ever recorded. Between 1980 and 2010 age-standardized mortality rates for males and females had declined by 48 per cent and 39 per cent respectively. Male mortality rates had been higher than those for females throughout the 30-year period: but because rates for males had fallen at a faster rate, the gap between male and female mortality had narrowed.
Source: Mortality in the United Kingdom, 2010, Office for National Statistics
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jan