Introduction
8.1 The World Health Organisation states that “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Discussion of health in the South West must therefore consider broader determinants of health in addition to patterns of disease and mortality. A summary figure of the main determinants of health has been provided by Dahlgren and Whitehead.
8.2 Of particular concern are socio-economic inequalities in health. Area-based measures of deprivation reflect variations in lifestyle: evidence suggests for example, that manual workers are far more likely to smoke than people working in professional occupations. There is also evidence to suggest that variations in life expectancy and infant mortality also reflect differing levels of deprivation. Variations in lifestyle are therefore correlated with levels of disease and mortality.
8.3 Deprivation and socio-economic status are, therefore, key issues when examining variations in health and will be referred to throughout this chapter. An overview of health patterns in the South West, from the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2004 , (IMD) is shown, (see map). This shows the least to most health deprived areas across the region, using the Health Deprivation and Disability Score from the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2004. This score is calculated using information on mortality, illness and disability from records of death, illness, prescriptions, benefits and hospital admissions. For more information on the IMD please click on this link. 10.26
8.4 Whilst this chapter draws its narrative from a wide range of different sources, the Health Profiles produced by the Department of Health (DH) and the Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO) provide a succinct account of patterns in health seen within the region, and at county, local authority and ward levels.
