Alarm Over Soaring Death Rates Among Young People
The risk of dying young is growing in Scotland despite greater wealth and major advances in healthcare. A shocking report published today reveals violence, drugs, alcohol and suicide mean men are now more likely to die in their 20s and 30s than 20 years ago.
Young women are also facing greater dangers. However, mortality has dropped significantly in other age groups because of improvements in the prevention and treatment of disease.
The research, by a team at Glasgow University, has sparked calls for radical new approaches to tackling the problems afflicting the young in their prime. Professor Alastair Leyland, who led the study, said:
“It is incredible that in such a civilised country we see increasing death rates amongst young men in particular but also among young women aged 15 to 29. It sticks in your throat because it is against what we would expect with advances in medical treatment and society becoming wealthier as a whole. To see this increase is very disturbing.”
The Scottish Executive commissioned the study as part of its work to tackle the poor health and life expectancy experienced by Scotland’s most-deprived communities.
Using data from death certificates and national censuses, the researchers found mortality rates across Scotland fell by 30% among men and 25% among women between 1981 and 2001.
However, during the same period death rates among males aged 15 to 29 leapt, jumping 5% in the first decade and another 10% in the past 10 years.
The 1990s were also more deadly for young women. The mortality rate among 15 to 29-year-old females rose by 6% between 1991 and 2001.
The report says the bulk of these increases are due to suicide and the use of drugs.
Professor Neil McKeganey, director of the centre for drug misuse research at Glasgow University, said: “Drug abuse is having a terrible effect on mortality rates amongst young people.”
It is Scotland’s deprived communities where most of the young lives are lost and the report emphasises that these neighbourhoods have not seen the same improvements in life expectancy generally as the rest of the nation.
Mortality rates in Clydeside were 9% higher than the Scottish average in 1981, but by 2001 the difference had almost doubled. Now the death rates in Clydeside are 17% above the national rate.
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: “This report provides a useful reminder that life expectancy has been increasing in Scotland as deaths from the big killers – heart disease, cancer, stroke and accidents – have fallen but it also reminds us that we need to sustain our efforts to tackle health inequalities and reduce the burden of deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug misuse that falls most heavily on the poorest communities.”
