A report examined health and health related statistics for children and young people living in Wales. It said that the majority were healthy and satisfied with life, but one in five of those aged 0-19 years lived in poverty. The report called for co-ordinated interagency action to improve the health of children and young people, and its determinants.
Source: Tracy Price, Jo Arthur, Anna Childs, Ruth Davies, Rhys Gibbon, Dee Hickey, Rhian Hughes, Sian Price, Holly Walsh, and Margaret Webber, Health of Children and Young People in Wales, Public Health Wales NHS Trust
Links: Report | Summary | PHW press release
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined early findings from the Eurofund research project on the impact of the recent financial and economic crisis on access to publicly funded healthcare services in the European Union. It discussed the impact on the supply of, and demand for, services, and the ways in which access was affected. A final report from the project was intended for publication in 2014.
Source: Impacts of the Crisis on Access to Healthcare Services in the EU, European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Nov
A study examined deaths in children aged 1-18 in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland from 1980 to 2010. It highlighted the continuing importance of injuries as a cause of death in childhood, and the lack of decrease in deaths due to intentional injury for children aged 10-18 since 1980; the persisting effect of young maternal age as a risk factor for child death throughout early childhood, despite accounting for birth weight; the high proportion of deaths in children with chronic conditions (especially neurological conditions); and the small but consistent decrease in the proportion of children with a chronic condition who died during hospital admission.
Source: Pia Hardelid, Nirupa Dattani, Jonathan Davey, Ivana Pribramska, and Ruth Gilbert, Overview of Child Deaths in the Four UK Countries, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined ethnic differentials in mortality in England and Wales. Immigrants, regardless of ethnicity, all had lower mortality than whites born in the United Kingdom. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Chinese immigrants had lower mortality than UK-born whites living in similar circumstances to them: but UK-born Black Caribbean people had higher mortality, due to their low socio-economic status. Immigrants were selected for good health, which had offset the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on the mortality of minority-ethnic groups. As the immigrant population aged and the UK-born minority-ethnic population grew, ethnic differentials in all-cause mortality were likely to change.
Source: Anne Scott and Ian Timaeus, 'Mortality differentials 1991-2005 by self-reported ethnicity: findings from the ONS Longitudinal Study', Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Volume 67 Number 9
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the association between being out of work because of sickness or disability and high mortality, using detailed information from a cohort study in the west of Scotland. It said that the long-term survival prospects of those who were out of work and sick or disabled were considerably poorer than other employment groups.
Source: Frank Popham, Kathryn Skivington, and Michaela Benzeval, 'Why do those out of work because of sickness or disability have a high mortality risk? Evidence from a Scottish cohort', European Journal of Public Health, Volume 23 Number 4
Date: 2013-Aug
An article said that child mortality due to injury had declined in all countries of the United Kingdom. England consistently experienced the lowest mortality rate throughout the study period (1980-2010). For children aged 10-18, differences between countries in mortality rates increased during the study period. The decline in mortality due to injury was accounted for by a decline in unintentional injuries. For older children, no declines were observed for deaths caused by self-harm, by assault, or from undetermined intent in any UK country.
Source: Pia Hardelid, Jonathan Davey, Nirupa Dattani, and Ruth Gilbert, 'Child deaths due to injury in the four UK countries: a time trends study from 1980 to 2010', PLoS ONE, 10 July 2013
Links: Article | Abstract | UCL press release
Date: 2013-Jul