Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006: General Report

Health Domain

The health domain identifies areas with a higher than expected level of ill health or mortality given the age-sex profile of the population. The indicators in the health domain and their respective weightings are listed in Annex 2.

The 2006 health domain indicators are not directly comparable with the 2004 health domain indicators due to changes in the methodology of constructing the indicators (removal of the shrinkage method and changed age-sex standardisation method) and the use of new data sources. These changes are listed briefly in Annex 2 and in full detail in the SIMD 2006 Technical Report. The indicators used in the SIMD 2006 health domain are based on either 2004 or 2005 data or 2001-2004 averages.

Key Points

• Glasgow City, Dundee City, Renfrewshire, Argyll & Bute and West Dunbartonshire have shown a decrease in the number of data zones in the 15% most health deprived data zones between the SIMD 2004 and SIMD 2006.
• North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Highland, South Lanarkshire, and Stirling have shown the largest increases in the number of data zones of the 15% most health deprived data zones between the SIMD 2004 and SIMD 2006.
• Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles Health Boards do not have any data zones in 15% most health deprived areas.

Health deprived areas in SIMD 2006

The SIMD 2006 health domain shows that the most health deprived data zone in Scotland is in Craigmillar area of Edinburgh. The four next highest ranked data zones are all in Glasgow City. Concentrations of health deprivation are predominantly found in Glasgow City, which contains over a third (35 per cent) of the 15% most health deprived data zones in Scotland. North Lanarkshire has the next greatest share with 10 per cent. The Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands local authority areas do not have any data zones in the 15% most health deprived in Scotland (see Table 2.10). Within local authority areas, almost half of Glasgow's data zones are in the 15% most health deprived. Other local authority areas with a large proportion of their data zones in the 15% most health deprived are Inverclyde (39 per cent), Dundee City (24 per cent), North Lanarkshire (23 per cent), Renfrewshire (21 per cent) and East Ayrshire (20 per cent) (see Table 2.10).

Change in health deprived areas between SIMD 2004 and SIMD 2006

The 2006 health domain is highly correlated with the 2004 health domain with a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.93 (see Annex 4). Of the 976 data zones in the 15% most health deprived in Scotland in the SIMD 2004, 80 per cent (785) remained in the 15% most health deprived in SIMD 2006.

Local authority areas that show increased numbers of data zones in the most health deprived areas are North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Highland, South Lanarkshire and Stirling (with increases of 20, 13, 10, 7 and 7 data zones respectively).

Local authority areas that have shown a decrease in the number of data zones in the 15% most health deprived areas are Glasgow City, Dundee City, Renfrewshire, Argyll & Bute and West Dunbartonshire (with falls of 54, 11, 8, 8 and 7 data zones respectively).

Table 2.10 Local share of data zones in the 15% most health deprived in the SIMD 2004 and SIMD 2006, by local authority area

Health deprivation by health board area

Table 2.11 shows that Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, which is the largest health board area, contains almost 50 per cent of the 15% most health deprived data zones in SIMD 2006, decreasing by 63 data zones since the SIMD 2004. Across Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area 33 per cent of data zones are in the 15% most health deprived areas.

Table 2.11 Share of the 15% most health deprived data zones in the SIMD 2004 and SIMD 2006, by Health Board

Note: Based on 2006 health board areas (Argyll and Bute health board was split between Greater Glasgow and Highland health boards in 2006)