In Scotland life expectancy at birth is 77 for males and 81 for females. This compares to 81 for men and 86 for women in Spain, 81 and 85 in Switzerland and 81 and 85 in Iceland. Scottish boys born in 1990 could expect to live until they were just over 71. Girls born in Scotland in 1990 had a life expectancy of 77 years.
A study, by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, NHS Health Scotland, the University of the West of Scotland and University College London, stated: “Life expectancy – a useful proxy for population health – is lower in Scotland than in any other western European country. However, this has not always been the case. In the middle of the 20th Century, Scottish life expectancy was similar to, or better than, a number of other European countries. Since then, however, Scotland’s health status has, in relative terms, deteriorated.”
While in absolute terms life expectancy has improved, it has done so more slowly than in any other western European country. This slower rate of improvement means that if these trends continue, life expectancy will soon be lower in Scotland than in a number of Eastern European countries as well. The study also found that Scotland is at the bottom of UK life expectancy league tables as well. For example, compared with England and Wales, and adjusting for differences in poverty and deprivation, 5000 more people die every year in Scotland than should be the case.
The report added: “These decades have been characterised by the emergence of higher mortality rates in Scotland from more socially-determined causes such as alcohol, drugs and suicide. These are what might be described as ‘diseases of despair’ and are associated with people living with, and attempting or failing to cope with, extremely difficult circumstances. Although usually expressed in statistical terms, behind such expressions lie genuine human tragedies. These include individual stories of shortened, wasted lives, pain, sickness, early death and grief, affecting individual men, women and children, their families, friends and communities.”
Professor Harry Burns, former Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, blamed rising inequality for Scotland’s appalling health record. He said: “The problem is that the health gap between rich and poor Scots has consistently widened since the 1950s and our average rate of growth has slowed as a result. But our relative position to other regions of Europe cannot be fixed solely by preaching to the population about damaging behaviour. The solutions are to be found in improving the social fabric and economic status of Scotland’s population.” He goes on to explain:
THERE is nothing inherently unhealthy about the Scots. Records of life expectancy which go back for around 160 years, show that for most of that time, Scots could expect to live as long as citizens of most countries in western Europe. Even now, life expectancy in Scotland continues to increase. However, it is not increasing as fast as our European neighbours and, in the past few decades, most of these countries have overtaken us. The problem is that the health gap between rich and poor Scots has consistently widened since the 1950s and our average rate of growth has slowed as a result. The Glasgow Centre for Population Health has considered several possible explanations for this. Recent studies have shown that the greatest inequality in mortality in Scotland, and particularly in West Central Scotland, occurs among young, working-age people and the gap in death rates is widest, not for deaths due to heart disease and cancer, but for deaths due to drugs, alcohol, suicide, violence and accidents. The inequality gap is primarily due to social and psychological factors. The report concludes that conventional explanations such as smoking “do not contribute to the high excess level of mortality”. Our relative position to other regions of Europe cannot be fixed solely by preaching to the population about damaging behaviour. As a surgeon in Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary, I used to tell patients that their smoking and drinking habits were damaging their health. “Ach,” they would reply, “what have I got to live for?” Smoking and drinking was their only source of pleasure in a difficult life. If the causes of health inequality are primarily social and economic, the solutions are to be found in improving the social fabric and economic status of Scotland’s population. Poverty, poor housing and a lack of a job to give them a sense of purpose seem to be the main drivers of our relatively poor life expectancy. Failure to find a way forward in improving the lives of poor communities will mean the average level of health in Scotland slipping even further behind other countries.”
The study cited several factors for Scotland’s grim record. These included high historical levels of deprivation, Margaret Thatcher’s social policies in the 1980s, and the decision by councils to plough resources into new towns in the 1950s and ’60s at the expense of inner-city areas.
https://www.sundaypost.com/news/scottish-news/scotland-set-sick-man-europe-life-expectancy-worse-former-communist-states/
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