Burden of ill health and mortality

People living in the poorest areas will, on average , die 7 years earlier than people living in richer areas and spend up to 17 more years living with poor health. They have higher rates of mental illness, of harm from alcohol, drugs and smoking and of childhood emotional and behavioural problems. Although infectious diseases only account for 1 in 50 deaths, rates of tuberculosis and STI's are rising and pandemic flu is still a threat. Source: Healthy Lives, Healthy People: Our strategy for public health in England.

The burden of ill health is a term used to describe categories of people that are the most ill. The categories maybe people from a certain area, ethnicity, age or any other characteristic that describes them. For example the elderly generally carry the heaviest burden of ill health, they have more long term conditions and are more likely to be admitted to hospital. There are specific residential wards with poorer health outcomes and economic and social disadvantage. The figure below shows the percentage contribution of various causes of death to the life expectancy gap between the most deprived area in Wandsworth and the least deprived. The largest cause of years of life lost between affluent groups and deprived groups is because of coronary heart disease which contributes to over one year of the life expectancy gap for males and 5 months for females.

Life expectancy gap between the most deprived and the least deprived groups in Wandsworth by cause of death

Inequalities : more information