Tackling inequalities in life expectancy in areas with the worst health and deprivation: England

While overall health outcomes in England has improved during the last Labour administration - inequalities in health has increased, according to the latest report published by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee today. People living in the poorest communities in England are more likely to die two years earlier than people living in more affluent neighbourhoods, leading to 3,335 premature mortality the report claims. Between, 1997 and 2010, the NHS budget has doubled and the country is more prosperous than ever before, yet the gap in life expectancy between the poorest areas and the national average grew by 7% for men and 14% for women, the committee concluded.

The London health inequalities forecast: A briefing on inequalities in life expectancy and deaths from cancers, heart disease and stroke in London

This briefing considers the national health inequalities targets which must be met by 2010. The targets include those set for heart disease and stroke, cancers and life expectancy.

Analysing variations in health expectancy - seminar presentations

A recent report by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (CARDI) entitled Illustrating Ageing in Ireland, North and South found that since the 1920s the number of years males can expect to live rose by about 20 years while the number of years females can expect to live rose by about 24-25 years.  It is not clear, however, if these years of life gained are lived in good health.While there is considerable policy focus on reducing inequalities in life expectancy, much less is known about the variation in health expectancy that exists across the island of Ireland. The debate hinges on our understanding of what is driving the changes in life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and the gap between the two.IPH in association with CARDI, hosted a Health Analysts' Special Interest Group (HASIG) seminar discussing the policy implications of this debate. The seminar introduced the range of health expectancy measures and compared them to life expectancy.  Initial findings from the all-island study of life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were also presented.

Life Expectancy and All Age All Cause Mortality Monitoring (Overall and Health Inequalities) - Update to include data for 2007

The latest annual update on life expectancy data and all age all cause mortality rates, with data updated to 2005-07, which are used to monitor progress against Department of Health targets for overall life expectancy in England, and for the gap in life expectancy between the areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators (the Spearhead group) and the England average, was released on 13th November 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Mortality target monitoring (life expectancy and all-age all-cause mortality, overall and inequalities)

The latest annual update on life expectancy data and all age all cause mortality rates, with data updated to 2006-08, which are used to monitor progress against Department of Health targets for overall life expectancy in England, and for the gap in life expectancy between the areas with the worst health and deprivation indicators (the Spearhead group) and the England average, was released on 5th November 2009 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. �� The key points from the latest release are: �� - The overall life expectancy and all age all cause mortality (AAACM) trends for both males and females are broadly on course to deliver the target of 78.6 years for men and 82.5 years for women by 2010 (2009-11). �� - In 2006-08, life expectancy at birth in England continued to increase for both males and females, and reached its highest level on record at 77.7 years for males and 81.9 years for females. �� - Three-year average AAACM rates for England have fallen in each period since 1995-97. �� - In 2006-08, average life expectancy at birth in the Spearhead Group was 75.8 years for males and 80.4 years for females, having increased in each period since 1995-97. �� - However, England average life expectancy at birth has increased more quickly over this period, and, in 2006-08, the relative gap ��� i.e. percentage difference - in life expectancy at birth between England and the Spearhead Group was wider than at the baseline for the target (1995-97) for both males and females. �� - For males the relative gap was 7% wider than at the baseline (compared with 4% wider in 2005-07), for females 14% wider (compared with 11% wider in 2005-07).�� �� Therefore, the target to narrow the life expectancy gap between the Spearhead Group and the England average, by at least 10% by 2010, remains challenging.��Three-year average AAACM rates for the Spearhead Group have fallen in each period since 1995-97 for both males and females. Download Mortality target monitoring (life expectancy and all-age all-cause mortality, overall and inequalities): update to include data for 2008 (PDF, 683K)Download pre-release access list (PDF, 10k)��

Identifying priorities for increasing life expectancy in the most deprived areas within the East Midlands

A set of life expectancy profiles for each Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the Region. These profiles show the causes of death that account for the largest shortfall in life expectancy in the most deprived areas of the PCT using the PCT's mortality experience as the benchmark. They are part of wider programme of work aimed at supporting the regional Health Inequalities Task Group and local organisations in identifying key priorities for tackling health inequalities.

Social inequalities in health. New evidence and policy implications

Health inequalities according to people's social standing are persisting, or even growing, in modern societies. Recent decades have revealed evidence of strong variations in life expectancy, both between countries and within them. This widening of social inequalities has developed despite considerable progress in medical science and an increase in health care spending. The reasons behind this are complex, and the implications considerable.   This book provides a summary of the major achievements of a five-year European Science Foundation (ESF) Programme on 'Social Variations in Health Expectancy in Europe'. The contributors are major figures in their subjects, and combine state of the art reviews with the latest results from interdisciplinary research in epidemiology, sociology, psychology and biomedicine.   Three conceptual frameworks of life course influences, health effects of stressful environments, and macro social determinants of health, are unified, while each chapter addresses the policy implications and recommendations derived from currently available evidence. The major topics covered include the role of family in early life, social integration and health, work stress and job security, successful ways of facing adversity, and the impact of the larger environment on health. Epidemiologists, public health research and policy makers, and students of related public health and sociology courses wlll find the results of this research fascinating.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Inequalities in Health in an Aging Population: Patterns, Causes and Consequences

The increase in life expectancy that we continue to observe raises a complex set of challenges for policy. Among these challenges is the need to respond to the heterogeneity that remains in life expectancy within the older population. Most important is that life expectancy, even at older ages, differs markedly by socioeconomic position. In addition, despite increases in longevitymany individuals now effectively retire before state pension age and a large proportion of these are dependent on benefit income. In contrast, the contribution by older people to informal careprovision and other services has the potential to provide an important input into society, the economy and their own well-being. A crucial question, therefore, is which sections of the older population will live healthy active lives and which will be dependent on formal and informal sources of support. To answer this, we need to understand how inequalities in health are distributed in the older population and what the underlying causal processes are.

Identifying priorities for increasing life expectancy within the East Midlands

A set of life expectancy profiles for each Local Authority, County and Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the Region. These profiles highlight the causes of death that result in the largest reduction in life expectancy using England's mortality experience as the benchmark. They are part of wider programme of work aimed at supporting the regional Health Inequalities Task Group and local organisations in identifying key priorities for tackling health inequalities. This document contains all five county profiles in one: they are also available individually.

INpho 3: Life expectancy in the East of England

This issue examines the trends, variation and inequality in life expectancy at local authority level within the East of England and considers the implications of achieving the national inequality target for life expectancy improvements.

Life expectancy: recent trends in older ages

Over the last 30 years there has been an upward trend in life expectancy at older ages in England. Figures 1 and 2 show life expectancy in England at ages 65, 75, 85 and 95 from 1981 to 2014. The data points shaded red in Figures 1 and 2 indicate where life expectancy in that year was lower than in the previous year, showing that there is some fluctuation in life expectancy at these age groups, although the overall trend has been upwards. Male life expectancy was lower in 2012 than 2011 at ages 85 and 95, and at ages 65 and 75 it was the same in both years. There were no further falls in 2013. This flattening of the recent trend has not continued in 2014, which saw a rise in male life expectancy at all four ages. Male life expectancy increased by 0.3 years at age 65 and 0.2 years at ages 75, 85 and 95. For females, life expectancy at all four ages was lower in 2012 than 2011. At age 65, that was the first fall since 1995 and at age 75 the first fall since 2003. At ages 85 and 95, there have been frequent occasions when life expectancy in a year was lower than in the previous year. Between 2012 and 2013, there were no further falls in life expectancy at any of these ages. Between 2013 and 2014, there was an increase in female life expectancy at all four ages. Female life expectancy increased by 0.3 years at age 65 and by 0.2 years at ages 75, 85 and 95.  

The London health inequalities forecast: Technical document

This paper describes the data and methods used in the London health inequalities forecast: A briefing on inequalities in life expectancy and deaths from cancers, heart disease and stroke in London. Links to relevant data sources and further information are also provided where possible.

Health Inequalities Target Data Web Tool - Updated to 2003-05

This tool contains the data for the LHO briefing "The London Health Inequalities Forecast: A briefing on inequalities in life expectancy and deaths from cancers, heart disease and stroke in London". The tool enables local areas to monitor their progress towards the national health inequalities targets for life expectancy, mortality from heart disease and stroke, and mortality from cancers.

Health Inequalities Intervention Toolkit

This Health Inequalities Intervention Toolkit, developed jointly by the Association of Public Health Observatories and the Department of Health, focuses on improving life expectancy and infant mortality rates, especially in disadvantaged areas. Based on local authority boundaries, it is designed to assist evidence-based local service planning and commissioning, including Joint Strategic Needs Assessments. The Toolkit does this by providing information on the diseases, which are causing low life expectancy in individual areas, enabling good local priority setting. The Toolkit was originally designed to support achievement of the national Public Service Agreement target to: "Reduce health inequalities by 10% by 2010 as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy at birth." Although the PSA target has now ended, the Toolkit should still be useful to the NHS and local government, supporting planning to narrow inequalities in life expectancy and infant mortality

The Marmot Review: Updated data and information 2 years on

To mark the two year anniversary since The Marmot Review ('Fair Society, Healthy Lives') was published, on the 15th of February the UCL Institute of Health Equity published new data on key health inequalities indicators at local authority level in England.Main Findings:Life Expectancy – this has historically been one of the main indicators of health inequalities.The Marmot Indicators from this year’s charts show the average life expectancy for eachlocal authority and the level of inequality within each authority area (7):-While overall life expectancy at birth in England increased by 0.3 years for both menand women between 2007-9 and 2008-10, inequalities in life expectancy betweenneighbourhoods increased by 0.1 years for men and showed no change for women-Among the 150 upper tier local authorities in England, life expectancy improved inthe majority of cases (133 areas saw improvements for men and 125 sawimprovements for women). However inequalities also increased in the majority ofareas (104 for men and 92 for women).-The largest increase in inequality in life expectancy was in West Berkshire for men(2.0 years) and inMiddlesbrough for women (2 years). The largest decreases ininequality were in Kensington and Chelsea for both men and women (1.9 and 1.1years respectively. To find out more, please read: - The press release, including key figures and main findings. - A blog by Michael Marmot about the data and it's implications. - Press coverage of the data in national and local newspapers and websites. - A powerpoint presentation on the key findings.