The link between health and class was reaffirmed today in analysis of an ONS/NHS report about the likelihood of death or emergency hospital treatment due to accidental causes.
By me in today’s report in the Scotsman:
“Adults and children from the most deprived areas of Scotland are twice as likely to die from an accidental injury than those from the most affluent postcodes, new figures show.
Some 1,364 deaths were recorded in 2010 in an Office of National Statistics (ONS) report for NHS Scotland as due to “unintentional injuries” such as road accidents, poisoning, and violent crimes like stabbings and shootings. However, the vast majority were from falls.
Of these deaths, the bottom fifth of the population in terms of deprivation was listed as having a Standard Mortality Ratio (SMR) for children of 119.3, compared with just 54.7 in the top fifth.
Figures for adults were similar with an SMR of 125.2 for the bottom 20 per cent and 65.1 for the top 20 per cent.
The SMR is a measure of deaths and is based on a calculation of actual and expected numbers of fatalities.”
I also put together an interactive visualisation of every emergency hospital admission in Scotland for ‘unintentional injury’ (accidents) in the last seven years. View it here.
