one long-term condition

‘Nearly half of all adults’ have at least one long-standing condition

THE prevalence of long-standing conditions among adults and children in England is reported in the recently released Health Survey for England. The study surveyed just over 10,000 adults and children in 2018 to bring together data on conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, adult and child weight, smoking, drinking and physical activity. It compares the prevalence rates of different types of conditions and how these vary across different demographic and socio-economic groups and by overall health status.

Forty-three per cent of adults aged 16 and over had at least one long-standing condition. The most common types were conditions of the musculoskeletal system (17%); of the heart and circulatory system (11%); mental, behavioural and

neurodevelopmental conditions (9%); diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic conditions (8%); and conditions of the respiratory system (8%). Most conditions increased in prevalence with age. For example, musculoskeletal conditions affected 5% of those aged 16 to 24, but this increased to 40% of those aged 85 and over. Mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental conditions did not follow this pattern; prevalence decreased with age, from 12% of those aged 16 to 24 to 2% of those aged 85 and over. In adults aged under 45, the most common type of long-standing conditions were mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental conditions, followed by musculoskeletal and respiratory conditions. In adults aged 45 and over, musculoskeletal conditions were most common, followed by heart and circulatory conditions, then diabetes and other endocrine and metabolic conditions.

Adults with long-standing conditions assessed their health less positively; had worse health status; were more likely to have mental ill-health; and had higher prescribed medicine usage than those without such conditions.

Long-standing conditions were less prevalent among children than adults, varying with age from 7% of infants aged up to one year old to 20% of children aged 10 to 15. Across age groups, respiratory diseases (5%) were most common, followed by mental, behavioural and neurodevelopmental conditions (4%). https://digital.nhs.uk

One third of premature deaths linked to social inequality

NEARLY 900,000 deaths in England could have been avoided in a more equal society, according to a UCL study of 2.5 million premature deaths over the last 16 years. The study, published in The Lancet Public Health, found that one in three deaths before the age of 75 are attributable to socio-economic and regional health inequalities.

Heart disease, lung cancer and lung diseases such as chronic bronchitis were the biggest problems, causing almost 400,000 excess deaths between them.

Lead author, Research Fellow Dan Lewer (UCL Epidemiology & Health Care) said: “We have known for a long time that poverty and inequality have a major effect on people’s health and life expectancy. Our study shows how this translates into actual numbers of deaths. If everyone in England had the same mortality rate as people living in the best-off areas, there would have been 877,000 fewer premature deaths between 2003 and 2018. That’s one death every 10 minutes. Fewer deaths “When we look at the figures across the life-course, we show that there could have been 22,000 fewer deaths in children aged under 10 if everyone had the same life chances as the best-off. We hope our study brings home the reality of differences in life expectancy in this country.”

Northern towns and cities had the highest number of premature deaths associated with social inequality. In Manchester, Blackpool and Liverpool, there was more than double the number of premature deaths than in the best-off parts of the country. Cambridgeshire, Dorset and Hampshire had the lowest number of premature deaths. The researchers hope that the study can help inform allocation of public health resources as it breaks down the data by disease category and geographical area. www.ucl.ac.uk