Focus on Health

by Office for National Statistics

• ISBN13: 9781403993250
• ISBN10: 1403993254
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-04
• Publisher: PALGRAVE

Summary

The Focus On series presents in-depth commentary reports examining different subjects and groups of people in the United Kingdom. Combining data from the 2001 Census of Population and other official sources, the reports provide an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of their topic area. Each report is easy to access, using simple tables, charts and maps to illustrate topics and issues. Focus On Health explores topics such as mortality, mental health, sexual health, eating and physical exercise and smoking, as well as public health issues including caring and carers and the use of the health services.

Author Biography

The OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS (ONS) is the government department that provides UK statistical and registration services. ONS is responsible for producing a wide range of key economic and social statistics which are used by policy makers across government to create evidence-based policies and monitor performance against them. The Office also builds and maintains data sources both for itself and for its business and research customers. It makes statistics available so that everyone can easily assess the state of the nation, the performance of government, and their own position.

Table of Contents

List of figures, maps and tables	vi
Symbols and conventions	xiv
List of contributors	xv
Acknowledgements	xvi
Introduction
Background	2	(1)
Key concepts	2	(1)
Contents and structure of the report	3	(4)
Downloadable data and glossary	7	(3)
General health
Introduction	10	(1)
Distribution of health status by age and sex	10	(1)
Health status of residents in communal establishments	11	(1)
Socio-economic variation	11	(4)
Ethnic variation	15	(1)
Geographic variation	16	(2)
Trends	18	(2)
Conclusion	20	(4)
Limiting long-term illness
Background	24	(1)
Prevalence of limiting long-term illness	24	(1)
Limiting long-term illness in communal establishments	25	(1)
Types of illness and limitations	25	(1)
Geographical variation	26	(1)
Ethnicity	27	(1)
Socio-economic variation	27	(5)
Conclusion	32	(2)
Smoking, drinking and drug use
Introduction	34	(1)
Smoking	34	(2)
Drinking	36	(5)
Drug use	41	(4)
Conclusion	45	(3)
Obesity, eating and physical activity
Introduction	48	(1)
Obesity and overweight in early life	48	(2)
Obesity and overweight in adulthood	50	(1)
Eating	51	(3)
Physical activity in early life	54	(2)
Physical activity in adulthood	56	(3)
Conclusion	59	(5)
Sexual behaviour and health
Introduction	64	(1)
Sexual behaviour	64	(2)
Conceptions	66	(1)
Teenage pregnancy	66	(1)
Contraception	67	(1)
Emergency contraception	67	(2)
Sexual health	69	(4)
Conclusion	73	(3)
Morbidity
Introduction	76	(1)
Demographic variations	76	(4)
Socio-economic and ethnic variations	80	(4)
Trends	84	(1)
Conclusion	85	(3)
Cancer
Introduction	88	(1)
Background	88	(1)
Cancer incidence and mortality -- all malignant cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer)	88	(2)
Cancer incidence and mortality -- the major cancers	90	(8)
Conclusion	98	(9)
Appendix: Technical terms	107	(3)
Mental health
Introduction	110	(1)
Mental disorders	110	(4)
Comorbidity	114	(2)
Mental health status of key groups	116	(1)
Services	116	(3)
Treatment outcomes	119	(1)
Conclusion	120	(4)
Preventive healthcare
Introduction	124	(1)
Immunisation	124	(4)
Cancer screening	128	(2)
Health promotion	130	(2)
Oral health	132	(3)
Conclusion	135	(3)
Use of services
Introduction	138	(1)
Primary care	138	(5)
Secondary care	143	(3)
Access to services	146	(1)
Public perception	147	(1)
Conclusion	148	(4)
Caring and carers
Background	152	(1)
Informal care	152	(1)
Sociodemographic profile of carers	152	(4)
Caring commitments	156	(1)
Impacts of caring	157	(2)
Geographical variations	159	(1)
Formal care	160	(3)
Conclusion	163	(3)
Mortality
Introduction	166	(1)
Data sources and methods	166	(1)
Results	167	(9)
Conclusion	176	(5)
Glossary	181