Those who report their health as ‘poor’ in deprived areas are in worse health than those who rate their condition similarly in affluent regions, analysis has found.
The study compared self-reported data from 14,000 participants to a more detailed health-related quality of life measure. Self-reported ‘good’ health decreased from 82.9% in affluent areas to 63.9% in the most deprived quintile. The quality of life scores were also much lower than the self-reporting would suggest in the two most deprived quintiles.
The study’s authors said that this suggests the extent of health inequalities rooted in level of deprivation have previously been underestimated. They warned that interventions aiming to reduce inequalities might therefore be less effective.
Oyinlola Oyebode is a Professor of public health at Queen Mary University London and a co-author of the study. She said: ‘Self-reported health is a widely used measure of health, most importantly in England we use it to calculate healthy life expectancy.
‘Our analysis suggests that using self-reported health might underestimate socio-economic health inequalities, which may mean that resources and interventions are not appropriately targeted to the most vulnerable neighbourhoods or people.’
Rosanna Fforde, honorary research fellow at the University of Warwick, also contributed to the paper. She said: ‘Understanding any systematic variation in how people self-report their health is important because this single question measure of health is so widely used, including in large surveys and the census.
‘The resultant large number of responses provides us with valuable granular insights into patterns of health, but this also means that it is important to explore whether “good” health means the same thing to everyone.’
Calls to ‘tackle the key drivers of ill health’
The researchers used data from the Health Survey for England (HSE) to reach these findings. In June, the NHS expressed concern about trends around alcohol, smoking and vaping revealed by the survey.
Layla McKay, director of policy at the NHS Confederation said: ‘These figures do raise some concerns. The fact that a higher proportion of adults are drinking at increasing or higher risk levels and more children are vaping is something that health leaders will want to keep a close eye on.’
The survey found that 13% of adults smoked cigarettes, up from 12% in the previous year. Use of e-cigarettes had also increased by 4% to a total of 9% of adults surveyed.
The proportion of children aged 8 to 15 who had ever tried a cigarette was 3%, a large decrease from the 19% reported in 1997.
However, 12% of the same age group had used an e-cigarette or vape in 2022 – 3% more than in 2021. The proportion was higher among participants aged 13 to 15 at one quarter (25%).
Dr McKay called for government intervention on health improvement. She said: ‘If we are going to tackle the key drivers of ill health and health disparities, health leaders and their teams will need the right support and resources.’
The second part of the HSE is due to be released in September 2024.
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