Statistics

Please note: This section is work in progress

Coronary Heart Disease

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common cause of death in the UK.  Around one in five men and one in six women die from the disease.  CHD causes around 101,000 deaths in the UK each year. 

CHD is also the most common cause of premature deaths in the UK, 20% of premature deaths in men and 11% of premature deaths in women were from CHD.  CHD caused almost 33,000 premature deaths in the UK in 2005.

Stroke

Every year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. Of all people who suffer from a stroke, about a third are likely to die within the first 10 days, about a third are likely to make a recovery within one month and about a third are likely to be left disabled and needing rehabilitation. Stroke has a greater disability impact than any other medical condition. A quarter of a million people are living with long-term disability as a result of stroke in the UK.

In 2005 there were 21,861 male deaths caused by a Stroke across the UK.

Obesity

The prevalence of obesity in Scotland has increased over the past two decades, reaching 22% in men and 24% in women in 2003 with marked increases in men aged 35-64 years and in women aged 35-44 years.

Obesity in children is now common.  In Scotland, nearly, one in five (18%) boys and over one in ten (14%) girls aged 2-15 years are obese.

It is estimated that obesity in Scotland is linked to nearly 500,000 cases of high blood pressure, 30,000 cases of type 2 diabetes, and similar numbers of cases of osteoarthritis and gout.

It is estimated that obese people in Scotland are 18% more likely to be hospitalized than those of normal weight.

Existing international evidence in relation to mortality associated with obesity suggests that the risk of death among obese people is two to three times higher than people of normal weight.

International comparisons show that Scotland has very high levels of obesity compared with other European countries.

Diabetes

The number of people currently diagnosed with Diabetes in the UK is 2.3 million with nearly 180,000 people diagnosed in Scotland.  In 2005 there were 3080 male deaths caused by Diabetes in the UK.

1 in 3 people in Scotland risk losing their sight because they are missing out on regular annual screening tests for diabetic retinopathy.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

One in four of us in Scotland will experience mental health problems at some point in our lives.  Work-related stress affects about one in five workers (some five million people) and stress-related conditions are now the commonest reported cause of sickness absence.

Suicide is one of the most common causes of death among men.  In 2006, there were 765 suicides in Scotland and around 3 out of 4 suicides are by men.