Health survey of Scottish population published
The Scottish Government has published results of the 2013 Scottish Health Survey, which aims to provide a detailed picture of the health of the Scottish population in private households and make a major contribution to the monitoring of health in Scotland.
The survey has been designed to provide data on the health of adults and children living in private households in Scotland on an annual basis. It includes statistics on general health, mental health,dental health, alcohol consumption, smoking, diet, physical activity, obesity, long-term conditions and mutiple risks. In 2013, 4,894 adults and 1,839 children took part in the survey.
The report of the key findings from the 2013 survey reveals that;
Long Term Conditions
- Forty-four percent of adults had a long term condition in 2013, with one in three (31 percent) reporting that they had a condition that limited their daily activities in some way. Women remain significantly more likely than men to have a long term condition (46 percent compared with 41 percent). Prevalence did not change significantly for adults between 2012 and 2013.
- Around one in six (17 percent) children aged 0-15 had a long term condition in 2013 (19 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls) and for 9 percent their condition limited their daily activities in some way. The proportion of boys reporting that they had a long term condition increased significantly between 2008 and 2013 (from 15 percent to 19 percent) but not between 2012 and 2013.
Risk Factors
- A risk index for poor health in adults was created, based on 21 measures of risks and vulnerabilities included in the survey in 2012 and 2013, which spanned current chronic disease risk factors, family or historic risks, current conditions, low wellbeing, and socio-economic disadvantage. The median number of risks in adults aged 16 and over was 5 in 2012/2013.
- Around a third (32 percent) of adults had between 0 and 3 of the risks in 2012/2013, while 19 percent had 8 or more.
- People living in areas with high levels of multiple deprivation were most likely to have a high number of individual risks. Among the 45-64 age group, 48 percent of those living in the 20 percent most deprived areas of Scotland had 8 or more risks, compared with just 9 percent of those living in the least deprived areas.
A full breakdown of the key findings from the 2013 survey can be accessed via the Scottish Government website.
