Health inequality and COVID-19 in Scotland

Author: Alex Priestley

PDF Published: Tuesday 23 Mar 2021 (SB 21-22)

Image: Figure 1: The causes of health inequalities

Image: Figure 2: Daily and 7 day average deaths from COVID-19 in Scotland since the start of the pandemic

Image: Figure 3: Daily and seven day average hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Scotland since March 2020

Image: Figure 4: COVID-19 case rate per 100,000 population in Scotland, by age group and sex

Image: Figure 5: Hospitalisation rate per 100,000 people by age and sex (3 March 2021)

Image: Figure 6: Total COVID-19 deaths in Scotland by age and sex (3 March 2021)

Image: Figure 7: Direct health harms from COVID-19 in Scotland by SIMD deprivation level where 1 is most deprived and 5 is least deprived.

Image: Figure 10: Percentage of age groups in Scotland who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, by sex, as of 3 March 2021

Image: Figure 8: Percentage of patients seen for routine tests and screening within six weeks

Image: Figure 9: Total weekly hospital admissions in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2018-19 average

Public Health England. (2019). NHS England - Definitions of health inequalities. Retrieved from https://www.england.nhs.uk/ltphimenu/definitions-for-health-inequalities/ [accessed 11 February 2021]

Public Health Scotland. (2021, January 14). What are health inequalities?. Retrieved from http://www.healthscotland.scot/health-inequalities/what-are-health-inequalities [accessed 11 February 2021]

McCartney, G., Popham, F., McMaster, R., & Cumber, A. (2019). Defining health and health inequalities. Public Health. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2019.03.023

Scottish Government. (2021, January 26). Long term monitoring of health inequalities: January 2021 report. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/publications/long-term-monitoring-health-inequalities-january-2021-report/ [accessed 15 February 2021]

McCartney, G., Collins, C., & Mackenzie, M. (2013). What (or who) causes health inequalities: Theories, evidence and implications?. Health Policy. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2013.05.021

Womankind. (2019, November 24). Intersectionality 101: what is it and why is it important?. Retrieved from https://www.womankind.org.uk/intersectionality-101-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/ [accessed 12 February 2021]

Fenton, L., Minton, J., Ramsay, J., Kaye-Bardgett, M., Fischbacher, C., Wyper, G., … McCartney, G. (2019). Recent adverse mortality trends in Scotland: comparison with other high-income countries. Epidemiology. doi: Recent adverse mortality trends in Scotland: comparison with other high-income countries

Black, D. (1980). Inequalities in Health: report of a research working group. Department of Health and Social Security.

Acheson, D. (1998, September). Independent Inquiry into Inequalities in Health: Report. Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265503/ih.pdf [accessed 17 February 2021]

Institute for Health Equity. (2010, February). Fair Society Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review). Retrieved from http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review [accessed 18 February 2021]

Institute of Health Equity. (2020, February). The Marmot Review: 10 years on. Retrieved from http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/marmot-review-10-years-on [accessed 18 February 2021]

Bambra, C., Smith, K.E., Garthwaite, K., Joyce, K.E., & Hunter, D.J. (2010). A labour of Sisyphus? Public policy and health inequalities research from the Black and Acheson Reports to the Marmot Review. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/jech.2010.111195

Walsh, D., McCartney, G., Collins, C., Taulbut, M., & Batty, G.D. (2016, June). History, politics and vulnerability: Explaining excess mortality in Glasgow and Scotland. Retrieved from https://www.gcph.co.uk/assets/0000/5988/Excess_mortality_final_report_with_appendices.pdf [accessed 18 February 2021]

ISD Scotland. (2019, October 29). Cancer mortality in Scotland. Retrieved from https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/cancer-mortality/ [accessed 19 March 2021]

Scottish Parliament. (2015, January 5). 1st Report, 2015 (Session 4): Report on Health Inequalities . Retrieved from https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/85035.aspx#intro [accessed 22 February 2021]

Scottish Government. (2019, September 29). Scottish Health Survey . Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-health-survey-2019-volume-1-main-report/ [accessed 17 March 2021]

Carfì , A., Bernabei , R., & Landi, F. (2020). Persistent Symptoms in Patients After Acute COVID-19. JAMA. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.12603

Scottish Government. (2020, December). Framework for Decision Making – Assessing the Four Harms of the Crisis. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2020/12/covid-19-framework-decision-making-assessing-four-harms-crisis/documents/covid-19-framework-decision-making-assessing-four-harms-crisis/covid-19-framework-decision-making-assessing-four-harms-crisis/govscot%3Adocument/covid-19-framework-decision-making-assessing-four-harms-crisis.pdf [accessed 12 February 2021]

The Global Health 50/50 Project. (2020). Men, sex, gender and COVID-19. Retrieved from https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project/men-sex-gender-and-covid-19/ [accessed 23 February 2021]

Niedzwiedz, C., O'Donnell, C., Jani, B.D., & Demou, E. (2020). Ethnic and socioeconomic differences in SARS-CoV-2 infection: prospective cohort study using UK Biobank. BMC Medicine. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-020-01640-8

Harrison, E., Docherty, A., Barr, B., & Buchan, I. (2020). Ethnicity and Outcomes from COVID-19: The ISARIC CCP-UK Prospective Observational Cohort Study of Hospitalised Patients. Preprints with The Lancet. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3618215

National Records of Scotland. (2020, July 8). Analysis of deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland, by ethnic group. Retrieved from https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/statistics/covid19/ethnicity-deceased-covid-19-june20.pdf [accessed 23 February 2021]

Public Health Scotland. (2021, March 3). COVID-19 statistical report. Retrieved from https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/covid-19/covid-19-statistical-report/3-march-2021/ [accessed 10 March 2021]

Henderson, A., Fleming, M., Cooper, S., Pell, J., Melville, C., MacKay, D., … Kinnear, D. (2021). COVID-19 infection and outcomes in a population-based cohort of 17,173 adults with intellectual disabilities compared with the general population (preprint). BMJ / Medrxiv. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.08.21250525

Lone, N., McPeake, J., Stewart, N., Blayney, M., Seem, R., & Donaldson, L. (2020). Influence of socioeconomic deprivation on interventions and outcomes for patients admitted with COVID-19 to critical care units in Scotland: A national cohort study. The Lancet Regional Health - Europe. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2020.100005

Watt, G., Blane, D., & Mullin, A. (2020, June). GPs at the deep end. Retrieved from https://www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_728030_smxx.pdf [accessed 8 March 2021]

Shiell-Davis, K., Denny, C., Mulligan, J., Brewster, D., Storkey, H., & Mabelis, J. (2018). Deprivation and Cancer Survival in Scotland. European Journal of Surgical Oncology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejso.2018.01.026

Peter Hastie, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Macmillan Cancer Support. (2021). Personal communication.

Scotland's Public Health Observatory. (2020, December). Mental Health: Deprivation. Retrieved from https://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/mental-health/data/deprivation/ [accessed 5 March 2021]

The Mental Health Foundation. (2020, May). The COVID-19 pandemic, financial inequality and mental health. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/research/coronavirus-mental-health-pandemic/covid-19-inequality-briefing [accessed 5 March 2021]

Taquet, M., Luciano, S., Geddes, J., & Harrison, P. (2020). Bidirectional associations between COVID-19 and psychiatric disorder: retrospective cohort studies of 62?354 COVID-19 cases in the USA. The Lancet Psychiatry. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30462-4

Roelfs, D.J., Shor, E., Davidson, K.W., & Schwartz, J.E. (2011). Losing life and livelihood: A systematic review and meta-analysis of unemployment and all-cause mortality. Social Science and Medicine. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.01.005

Kaplan, R., Spittel, M., & Zeno, T. (2014). Educational Attainment and Life Expectancy. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732214549754

Glasgow Disability Alliance. (2020, October 22). Supercharged: A Human Catastrophe – Inequalities, Participation and Human Rights, before during and beyond COVID19. Retrieved from https://gda.scot/what-we-do-at-gda/resources/publications/supercharged-a-human-catastrophe-inequalities-participation-and-human-rights-before-during-and-beyond-covid19 [accessed 5 March 2021]

Burnett, H., Olsen, J., Nicholls, N., & Mitchell, R. (2021). Change in time spent visiting and experiences of green space following restrictions on movement during the COVID-19 pandemic: a nationally representative cross-sectional study of UK adults. Public Health. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044067

Scottish Government. (2021, January 28). Scottish Budget 2021-22. Retrieved from https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-budget-2021-22/pages/2/ [accessed 12 March 2021]

Martin, C., Marshall, C., Patel, P., Goss, C., & Jenkins, D. (2021). Association of demographic and occupational factors with SARS-CoV-2 vaccine uptake in a multi-ethnic UK healthcare workforce: a rapid real-world analysis (preprint). Medrxiv / BMJ. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.11.21251548

Last Updated: 17/4 1:06pm

An error occured while loading, please try again in a few minutes.