8.3.1 "People with higher socioeconomic position in society have a greater array of life chances and more opportunities to lead a flourishing life. They also have better health. The two are linked: the more favoured people are, socially and economically, the better their health. This link between social conditions and health is not a footnote to the ‘real’ concerns with health – health care and unhealthy behaviours – it should become the main focus." (source: The Marmot Review, 'Note from the Chair' of the Executive Summary, 'Fair Society, Healthy Lives').
8.3.2 "Children who have low cognitive scores at 22 months of age but who grow up in families of high socioeconomic position improve their relative scores as they approach the age of 10. The relative position of children with high scores
at 22 months, but who grow up in families of low socioeconomic position, worsens as they approach age 10." (source: Fair Society, Healthy Lives, p.22).
8.3.3 Using the income component of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2007, and information obtained from the 2001 Census, Figure 8.3.1 explores the relationship between deprivation and self-reported Limiting Long-term Illness in the South West. Each 'dot' represents the percentage of people in a particular Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) who reported at the 2001 Census a long-term illness, health problem or disability that limited their daily activities or work, according to the income deprivation score for that LSOA. The horizontal axis showing the income deprivation score, with values ranging from '0' to '0.7', indicates the level of deprivation in an area: the higher the score i.e nearer to '0.7' than '0', the more deprived the area. Looking at Figure 8.3.1 from left to right, many of the 'dots' cluster towards the left hand side indicating lower levels of deprivation in the South West, but levels of self-reported Limiting Long-term Illness vary regardless of income. The fitted straight line shows an upward 'positive' slope indicating that areas with a high degree of income deprivation tend also to be those areas where a higher percentage of people report a Limiting Long-term Illness. The scatterplot does not show that there is necessarily a causal relationship between income deprivation and Limiting Long-term Illness, simply that there is an association between the two.
Figure 8.3.1 Income Deprivation Score (IMD 2007) and percentage of persons living with a
Limiting Long-term Illness (2001 Census) by LSOA in the South West
