Comparison of key public health statistics for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland drawn from the four countries' health surveys. Data relates to 2008 for Scotland, England and Wales and 2005/06 for Northern Ireland. Source agency: Scottish Government Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Scottish Health Survey - Topic Report

Alcohol-related hospital statistics (ARHS) provide an annual update to figures on the alcohol-related inpatient and day case activity taking place within general acute hospitals and psychiatric hospitals in Scotland. All publications and supporting material to this topic area can be found on the ISD Scotland - Drug and Alcohol Misuse Website. Open Data to this topic is also available on the Scottish Governments open data portal for official statistics statistics.gov.scot. The date of the next release can be found on our list of forthcoming publications.

Indicators of population health and related risk factors from the Scottish Health Survey (2008-2022).

The Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) series was established in 1995. Commissioned by the Scottish Government Health Directorates, the series provides regular information on aspects of the public's health and factors related to health which cannot be obtained from other sources. The SHeS series was designed to:

• estimate the prevalence of particular health conditions in Scotland;
• estimate the prevalence of certain risk factors associated with these health conditions and to document the pattern of related health behaviours;
• look at differences between regions and between subgroups of the population in the extent of their having these particular health conditions or risk factors, and to make comparisons with other national statistics for Scotland and England;
• monitor trends in the population's health over time;
• make a major contribution to monitoring progress towards health targets.

Each survey in the series includes a set of core questions and measurements (height and weight and, if applicable, blood pressure, waist circumference, urine and saliva samples), plus modules of questions on specific health conditions that vary from year to year. Each year the core sample has also been augmented by an additional boosted sample for children. Since 2008 NHS Health Boards have also had the opportunity to boost the number of adult interviews carried out in their area.

The Scottish Government Scottish Health Survey webpages contain further information about the series, including latest news and publications.

The Scottish Health Survey, 2013 was the ninth survey in the series, designed to provide data at a national level about the population living in private households in Scotland. Since its inception in 1995, the SHeS interview has included a second stage follow-up visit from a survey nurse to collect biological samples and measures. Between 2012 and 2015, specially trained interviewers are taking many of the measurements and samples, previously collected by nurses, from a sub-sample of adult participants.

For the fifth edition (February 2020), new equivalised income derived variables based on the OECD scoring method (as included in SHeS 2015 onwards) were added to the individual file. The dataset documentation has been updated accordingly.

The number of child protection referrals, case conferences, registrations, de-registrations and the number on child protection registers.

Source agency: Scottish Government

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Child Protection Statistics, Scotland

Scottish Health Service Costs Source agency: ISD Scotland (part of NHS National Services Scotland) Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Scottish Health Service Costs

This dataset is published as Open DataDelivery of frontline healthcare services in Scotland are the responsibility of 14 regional National Health Service (NHS) Boards that report to the Scottish Government. Current boundaries of NHS Health Boards in Scotland are defined by National Health Service (Variation of Areas of Health Boards) (Scotland) Order 2013 (SSI 2013/347), which came into force on April 1st 2014, and replaces the previous definition based upon the former Regions and Districts of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This change was made in order to re-align Health Boards with the combined area of each Local Authority that they serve. Subsequent changes to Local Authorities will result in corresponding amendments to Health Board boundaries in order to maintain alignment.

Scotland data added to the WHO database of 600 health/health-related indicators for over 50 countries in Europe (including UK), for 1970 to the present, where available. Data are presented in a user-friendly, graphical or tabular form, allowing time trend and international comparisons. Accompanying briefing notes provide a summary of the findings and some interpretation. Source agency: ISD Scotland (part of NHS National Services Scotland) Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Scotland and European HfA Database

In 2023, a survey on mental wellbeing in adults in Scotland showed that men had a mean score of **** and women had a mean score of **** out of 70. A higher score in this scale indicates a greater wellbeing. This statistic displays the mental wellbeing of adults according to the Warwick Edinburgh mental wellbeing scale in Scotland from 2008 to 2023, by gender.

This dataset provides Census 2022 estimates for long-term health conditions for all people by sex by age (in 6 categories) in Scotland.

Age

A person's age on Census Day, 20 March 2022. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

Sex

This is the sex recorded by the person completing the census. The options were "Female" and "Male". Guidance on answering the question can be found here

Long-term health condition (Source question or variables)

Individual question 18: Do you have any of the following which have lasted or are expected to last at least 12 months? (Tick all that apply)

• Deafness or partial hearing loss
• Blindness or partial sight loss
• Full or partial loss of voice or difficulty speaking (a condition that requires you to use equipment to speak)
• Learning disability (a condition that you have had since childhood that affects the way you learn, understand information and communicate)
• Learning difficulty (a specific learning condition that affects the way you learn and process information)
• Developmental disorder (a condition that you have had since childhood which affects motor, cognitive, social and emotional skills, and speech and language)
• Physical disability (a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, lifting or carrying)
• Mental health condition (a condition that affects your emotional, physical and mental wellbeing)
• Long-term illness, disease or condition (a condition, not listed above, that you may have for life, which may be managed with treatment or medication)
• Other condition, please write in:
• No condition

Long-term health condition: nature of condition

This variable indicates whether or not an individual has identified themselves as having a long term health condition which has lasted or is expected to last at least 12 months. The conditions presented as response options were deafness or partial hearing loss, blindness or partial sight loss, a learning disability (for example Down’s Syndrome), a learning difficulty (for example dyslexia), a developmental disorder (for example autistic spectrum disorder or Asperger’s syndrome), a physical disability, a mental health condition, a long-term illness, disease or condition and other condition. (Although the categories ‘Long-term illness, disease or condition’ and ‘Other condition’ were presented as separate response options, they were combined into a composite ‘Other condition’ category for the purposes of statistical outputs.)

The classification is shown here

Long term health condition: Blindness or partial sight loss

An indicator for whether a person is blind or partially vision impaired.

Long term health condition: Deafness or partial hearing loss

An indicator for whether a person is deaf or partially hearing impaired.

Long-term health condition indicator - Long-term Illness

An indicator for whether a person has a long term illness (a condition, not listed in the other tick box response options for the long term health conditions question, that a person may have for life, which may be managed with treatment or medication)

Long-term health condition indicator - Mental Health

An indicator for whether a person has a mental health condition (a condition that affects emotional, physical and mental wellbeing)

Long-term health condition indicator - Physical Disability

An indicator for whether a person has a physical disability (a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, lifting or carrying)

Long-term health condition indicator – Speaking difficulty (full or partial voice loss)

An indicator for whether a person has a speaking difficulty (a condition that requires a person to use equipment to speak).

The quality assurance report can be found here

Delivery of frontline healthcare services in Scotland are the responsibility of 14 regional National Health Service (NHS) Boards that report to the Scottish Government. Current boundaries of NHS Health Boards in Scotland are defined by National Health Service (Variation of Areas of Health Boards) (Scotland) Order 2013 (SSI 2013/347), which came into force on April 1st 2014, and replaces the previous definition based upon the former Regions and Districts of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This change was made in order to re-align Health Boards with the combined area of each Local Authority that they serve. Subsequent changes to Local Authorities will result in corresponding amendments to Health Board boundaries in order to maintain alignment.

Drug-related hospital statistics (DRHS) provide an annual update to figures on the drug-related inpatient and day case activity taking place within general acute hospitals in Scotland. All publications and supporting material to this topic area can be found on PHS - Substance use. The date of the next release can be found on our list of forthcoming publications.

This dataset provides Census 2022 estimates for general health for all people by age (in 6 categories) in Scotland.

Age

A person's age on Census Day, 20 March 2022. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

General health

General health is a self-assessment of a person's general state of health. People were asked to assess whether their health was very good, good, fair, bad or very bad. This assessment is not based on a person's health based over any specified period of time.

Details of classification can be found here

The quality assurance report can be found here

Statistical release published by the Scottish Government detailing cancer waiting-time statistics for urgently-referred patients by tumour site and NHS board.

Source agency: Scottish Government

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Cancer Waiting Times, Scotland

This statistic displays the distribution of adults who said their general health was very good in Scotland in 2023, by gender and age. In this year, ** percent of men and ** percent of women aged between 35 and 44 years said that their general health was very good.

Data sources: England & Wales - Office for National Statistics (ONS)Scotland - National Records of Scotland (NRS)Northern Ireland - Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)Coverage: United Kingdom The boundaries used have been generalised using a point remove algorithm for web display using the following thresholds:Euro Regions - 250 metres Local Authorities - 150 metres Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) - 100 metres Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) - 75 metres Output Area (OA) - 50 metres The boundaries have been set to display at the following scale thresholds: Euro Regions - > 1:4,000,000 Local Authorities - 1:300,000 – 1:4,000,000 Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) - 1:100,000 – 1:300,000 Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) - 1:40,000 – 1:100,000 Output Area (OA) - < 1:40,000The currency of this data is 2011.

BACKGROUND. The UK hosts many of the world's longest running prospective longitudinal birth cohort studies. These projects make repeated observations of their participants and use this data to explore health outcomes and mortality. An alternative method for data collection is record linkage; the linking together of electronic health and administrative records. Applied nationally, this could provide unrivalled opportunities to follow a large number of people in perpetuity. However, public attitudes to the use of data and samples in research are currently unclear. Here we report on an event at which we collected attitudes towards recent opportunities and controversies within health data science. METHODS. The event was attended by ~250 individuals (cohort members and their guests), who had been invited through the offices of their participating cohort studies. Attendees heard talks describing key research results and participated in 15 multiple-choice questions using interactive voting pads. RESULTS. Our participants showed a high level of trust in researchers and doctors, but less trust in commercial companies. They supported the idea of researchers using information from both neonatal blood spots (Guthrie spots) and from health records. Participants said they would be willing to wear devices like a 'fit-bit' and to undergo a brain scan that might predict later mental illness. However, they were less willing to change an aspect of their lifestyle or take a new drug for research purposes. They were very keen to encourage others to take part in research; whether that be offering the opportunity to pregnant mothers or indeed extending invitations to their own children and grandchildren CONCLUSIONS. Our participants were broadly supportive of research access to data and samples, albeit less supportive when commercial interests are involved. Public engagement events that facilitate two-way interactions can influence and support future research and public engagement efforts. Ethical permission for this work was granted by The Psychology Research Ethics Committee (PREC) at the University of Edinburgh (Ref No: 327-1718/3). No identifying data were collected from participating individuals. Videos are publicly available on the CCACE YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaemWVOehYht6pylL9zq4nw

Annual survey of Mental Health Officers working in LAs Source agency: Scottish Government Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Mental Health Officers, Scotland

BackgroundThe availability of robust evidence to inform effective public health decision making is becoming increasingly important, particularly in a time of competing health demands and limited resources. Comparative Risk Assessments (CRA) are useful in this regard as they quantify the contribution of modifiable exposures to the disease burden in a population. The aim of this study is to assess the contribution of a range of modifiable exposures to the burden of disease due to stroke, an important public health problem in Scotland.MethodsWe used individual-level response data from eight waves (1995–2012) of the Scottish Health Survey linked to acute hospital discharge records from the Scottish Morbidity Record 01 (SMR01) and cause of death records from the death register. Stroke was defined using the International Classification of Disease (ICD) 9 codes 430–431, 433–4 and 436; and the ICD10 codes I60-61 and I63-64 and stroke incidence was defined as a composite of an individual’s first hospitalisation or death from stroke. A literature review identified exposures causally linked to stroke. Exposures were mapped to the layers of the Dahlgren & Whitehead model of the determinants of health and Population Attributable Fractions were calculated for each exposure deemed a significant causal risk of stroke from a Cox Proportional Hazards Regression model. Population Attributable Fractions were not summed as they may add to more than 100% due to the possibility of a person being exposed to more than one exposure simultaneously.ResultsOverall, the results suggest that socioeconomic factors explain the largest proportion of incident stroke hospitalisations and deaths, after adjustment for confounding. After DAG adjustment, low education explained 38.8% (95% Confidence Interval 26.0% to 49.4%, area deprivation (as measured by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 34.9% (95% CI 26.4 to 42.4%), occupational social class differences 30.3% (95% CI 19.4% to 39.8%), high systolic blood pressure 29.6% (95% CI 20.6% to 37.6%), smoking 25.6% (95% CI 17.9% to 32.6%) and area deprivation (as measured by the Carstairs area deprivation Index) 23.5% (95% CI 14.4% to 31.7%), of incident strokes in Scotland after adjustment.ConclusionThis study provides evidence for prioritising interventions that tackle socioeconomic inequalities as a means of achieving the greatest reduction in avoidable strokes in Scotland. Future work to disentangle the proportion of the effect of deprivation transmitted through intermediate mediators on the pathway between socioeconomic inequalities and stroke may offer additional opportunities to reduce the incidence of stroke in Scotland.

Born in Scotland is an ongoing observational longitudinal study set to capture a contemporary and representative cohort of mothers in Scotland and provide a valuable research resource to assess current clinical issues and health disparities and investigate the drivers of long-term maternal and child wellbeing. The current pilot study is open to recruitment and is testing consent models. The scale-up study intends to include 100,000 pregnant women and their children, constituting a diverse, flexible, and nationally representative maternity cohort. It is embedded within the NHS services, capitalising on capturing routinely collected data and biological samples, and allowing linkage to additional clinical and demographic data through the unique Community Health Index (CHI) number.

The pilot study currently targets all women aged 18-50 years old, living in Edinburgh and the Lothians and the Borders, and who are planning to give birth in Scotland, offering recruitment during any of the routine antenatal booking appointments. Data from the participants is extracted from the electronic maternity records, neonatal units, and clinical and diagnostic results. Biological samples are retrieved from hospital laboratories using samples that would otherwise be discarded after clinical use or collected at birth. The aim is to use the cohort to link to future maternal and child health and social care records to address key research questions to improve maternal and child health in Scotland.