All-cause and cause-specific mortality in Scotland 1981–2011 by age, sex and deprivation: a population-based study

• Published in: European journal of public health Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 647 - 655
• Main Authors: Brown, Denise, Allik, Mirjam, Dundas, Ruth, Leyland, Alastair H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01-08-2019; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alcohol; Alzheimer's disease; Austerity policy; Cancer; Cause of Death - trends; Censuses; Child; Child, Preschool; Dementia; Dementia disorders; Deprivation; Fatalities; Female; Humans; Inequalities; Inequality; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Influenza; Life expectancy; Life Expectancy - trends; Life span; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; Mortality - trends; Mortality rates; Neurodegenerative diseases; Population; Population studies; Population Surveillance - methods; Population-based studies; Public health; Scotland - epidemiology; Sex; Sex Factors; Socioeconomic Determinants; Socioeconomic Factors; Suicide; Young Adult; Scotland; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1101-1262; 1464-360X
• DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckz010

Abstract
Background
Average life expectancy has stopped increasing for many countries. This has been attributed to causes such as influenza, austerity policies and deaths of despair (drugs, alcohol and suicide). Less is known on the inequality of life expectancy over time using reliable, whole population, data. This work examines all-cause and cause-specific mortality rates in Scotland to assess the patterning of relative and absolute inequalities across three decades.
Methods
Using routinely collected Scottish mortality and population records we calculate directly age-standardized mortality rates by age group, sex and deprivation fifths for all-cause and cause-specific deaths around each census 1981–2011.
Results
All-cause mortality rates in the most deprived areas in 2011 (472 per 100 000 population) remained higher than in the least deprived in 1981 (422 per 100 000 population). For those aged 0–64, deaths from circulatory causes more than halved between 1981 and 2011 and cancer mortality decreased by a third (with greater relative declines in the least deprived areas). Over the same period, alcohol- and drug-related causes and male suicide increased (with greater absolute and relative increases in more deprived areas). There was also a significant increase in deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease for those aged 75+.
Conclusions
Despite reductions in mortality, relative (but not absolute) inequalities widened between 1981 and 2011 for all-cause mortality and for several causes of death. Reducing relative inequalities in Scotland requires faster mortality declines in deprived areas while countering increases in mortality from causes such as drug- and alcohol-related harm and male suicide.