Long-term monitoring of health inequalities: March 2022 report

Annual update of the long-term monitoring of health inequalities headline indicators.

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Alcohol-specific deaths aged 45-74 years

Trends in alcohol-specific deaths

The alcohol-specific death rate among those aged 45-74 years has fluctuated over the time series. There was an overall increase between 1997 and 2006 (increasing from 38.5 per 100,000 to 61.3 per 100,000) followed by a general downward trend until 2012 (38.2 per 100,000) when the rate was similar to the start of the time series. Since 2013, the alcohol-specific mortality rate has increased overall and the rate in 2020 was 45.4 per 100,000, the highest rate since 2010 and higher than at the start of the time series.

Table 9.1: Trends in alcohol-specific deaths (aged 45-74), 1997-2020
Year Number of deaths Target population size Rate per 100,000 (EASR)
1997 636 1,635,590 38.5
1998 695 1,646,711 41.9
1999 761 1,658,124 45.2
2000 873 1,670,660 52.1
2001 957 1,687,422 56.7
2002 1,049 1,706,141 61.3
2003 1,053 1,727,112 60.9
2004 1,015 1,751,037 57.6
2005 1,056 1,774,865 59.3
2006 1,105 1,799,382 61.3
2007 1,002 1,827,320 54.6
2008 1,019 1,856,874 54.8
2009 905 1,885,693 47.9
2010 927 1,914,226 48.3
2011 871 1,941,253 45.1
2012 752 1,964,203 38.2
2013 769 1,986,202 38.6
2014 808 2,007,988 40.2
2015 840 2,026,210 41.4
2016 898 2,047,858 43.7
2017 910 2,064,612 44.0
2018 898 2,073,318 43.2
2019 801 2,078,664 38.4
2020 952 2,081,213 45.4

Inequalities in alcohol-specific deaths, 2020

The alcohol-specific death rate (for those aged 45-74 years) in Scotland’s most deprived areas is almost six times higher than that observed in the least deprived areas (87.2 compared to 15.4 per 100,000 population).

Figure 9.1 Alcohol-specific mortality amongst those aged 45-74y by Income-Employment Index, Scotland 2020 (European Age-Standardised Rates per 100,000)

Trends in relative inequalities

Relative inequalities in alcohol-specific deaths have reduced overall since the start of the time series. For all years between 1997 and 2010 the RII was above 2, whereas it has ranged from 1.79 to 2.22 since 2011. The RII in 2020 was 1.80.

Figure 9.2 Relative Index of Inequality (RII): Alcohol-specific mortality 45-74y Scotland 1997-2020

Trends in absolute inequalities

Following an increase in the gap between the alcohol-specific mortality rate in the most and least deprived areas of Scotland, from 93.7 to 184.7 per 100,000 between 1997 and 2002, there has been general downward trend, with a gap of 71.8 per 100,000 in 2020, the lowest in the time series.

Although the rate of alcohol-specific deaths in the least deprived areas has remained reasonably static since 1997, there has been considerable change in the rate in the most deprived areas. This has largely driven changes in the absolute gap.

Figure 9.3 Absolute Gap: Alcohol-specific mortality 45-74y Scotland 1997-2020 (European Age-Standardised Rates per 100,000)

Contact

Email: morag.shepherd@gov.scot

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