Explaining patterns and trends in health

There are many ways to measure patterns of ill health; these include mortality, morbidity, health events, disease incidence, disease prevalence and health surveillance. These are; Morbidity Rates is how many individuals suffer from the disease at a given time. Mortality Rates is how many individuals die from suffering from the disease and health events individuals being aware of health issues such as the NHS providing information about the main concern. Disease incidence is the chance of the individual being diagnosed. Disease Prevalence is how the proportion of the population is suffering from the disease.

Health Surveillance identifies early signs of ill health and way to prevent and protect. There are many social groups which can influence an individual’s health and lifestyle both positively and negatively. These are; Gender which is just whether you are male or female. Age which is how old an individual is when the data is recorded. Social Class which is not meant to still be around as we are supposed to live in a classless society were the class of people does not matter.

Risk Behaviour which is certain forms of behaviour which are shown to be associated with increased susceptibility to a certain disease of ill-health. Ethnicity which is the state of belonging to a certain social group that has a common national or cultural tradition. Locality which is the position or site of something.

The classifications of social classes are the five class scheme Register Generals Social Class (RGSC) WHICH IS: I – Professional Occupational, II – Managerial and Technical Occupational, III – Skilled Occupational, Manual (M) and Non-Manual (N).

IV – Partly –skilled Occupational and V – Unskilled Occupational. NS-SEC stands for the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification which is: 1 – senior professionals/senior managers, 2 – Associate professionals/Junior managers, 3 – Other administrative and clerical workers, 4- Own account non-professional and 5- Supervisors, technicians and related workers. 6 – Intermediate workers, 7- other workers and 8 – never worked/other inactive.

In 1980 the black report was then published. It had been commissioned approximately 30 years after the founding of the NHS and provided a commentary about how the UK had done in providing for the health of its population. The report concluded that there was a poorer health experience for the lower occupational groups at all stages in life. These were; Gender -Men and women in occupation class V had two and a half times higher chance of dying before reaching the retirement age than those in occupational class I. – At birth and during the first month of life the risk of death in families of unskilled workers was double that of professional families. – Boys in class V had a ten times greater chance of dying from fire, falls or frowning than those in class I – The difference between the health of men and woman indicated that the risk of death for men in each social class was almost twice that for women. – Difference in the health experiences of different racial ethnic groups are also identified. Age Health inequality exists in our society and even though they affect different areas they are interlinked. Acheson (1998) said ‘health inequalities affects the whole society and can be identified from foetus to old age’ Locality From the black report I can see that were you live can affect your chances for getting an illness or disease. We find that death rates for CHD for those born I the Indian sub-continent were 38% higher for men and 45% higher for women than rates within the UK. Social Groups

The health gap between rich and poor in the UK has widened since 1980 and class is the main core of inequalities wherever they are identified. They found that the scientific evidence supports a socio-economic explanation of health inequalities which are caused by factors such as income, education, employment, environment and lifestyle. The report made three key recommendations to the government. These are; – All policies are likely to have an impact on health should be evaluated in terms of their impact on health inequalities. – A high priority should be given to the health of families with children. – Further steps should be taken to reduce income inequalities and improve the living standards of poor households. Risks of Behaviour Consistent death rates in Europe have reached their lowest point in the entire history of human society. The twentieth century has witnessed a dramatic drop in the rate of infectious disease, as well as the introduction of therapies for its treatment. Common causes of death which have greatly weakened, such as TB and diphtheria were often linked to poverty and material deprivation. Ethnicity One of the most important dimensions of inequality in contemporary Britain is race. Immigrants to this country from the so-called new Commonwealth, whose ethnic identity is clearly visible in the colour of their skin, are known to experience greater difficulty in finding work and adequate housing.

The different patterns and trends that I have found within my own research about alcohol related deaths links with ageing, Ethnicity, Risks of behaviour, Locality, Gender and social groups. Gender and Ageing Males aged 30 and over are significantly more likely than females to die of alcohol related causes over 66% of all alcohol related deaths in the UK (in 2011 were among males). Males aged 30 and over were significantly more likely than females o die from alcohol-related causes. For both sexes, the number of alcohol0related deaths increased sharply from the 25-29 year old age group, increasing to 838 for males and 411 for females aged 55 to 59. After this age, the number of alcohol-related deaths began to reduce steadily for males across each age group reducing to 92 for those ages 85 and over. The decline across age groups was more gradual in females, dropping to 81 in the 85 and over age group.

45-49year old men have died from alcohol related death by 32,000 but from females it goes to 14,000. Locality Data for Scotland and Northern Ireland are published separately. Between 2007 and 2010 male alcohol-related death rates were significantly higher in wales than in England. A three year decline in male death rates in wales means this difference is no longer significant. The table shows drinking habits by region in 2012 show people above the age of 16 who consumes alcohol weekly such as in the north east people who drink up to 3-4 units are 46% compared to North West who drink up to 3-4 units are 42%. Social Groups The table shows drinking habits in pregnancy in 2012. Women who are pregnant have consumed alcohol in the last week is 10% compared to women who are not pregnant and unsure are 53%. Ethnicity This table shows drinking habits by ethnicity in 2012 for people who have drank alcohol within the last week is 58% and the people who have drank alcohol five or more occasions last week is 11%.