England may be healthier than most other wealthy countries, according to a major study published today.
Only differences between regions are holding the country back from being the healthiest in the world, researchers claimed.
The report in The Lancet says English people have enjoyed a 5.4 years increase in life expectancy in the last 25 years, bringing it to 81.3 years.
The researchers say that men in south-east, south-west and eastern England have greater life expectancy than any high income country. Women’s life expectancy in south-east England compares with Australia, Spain, Italy and France.
The research was undertaken by Public Health England and comes from a detailed analysis of the 2013 Global Burden of Diseases study.
The researchers say tobacco and poor diet are the two single biggest risk factors contributing to ill health – each is responsible for about 10% of ill health while other preventable risk factors account for another 20%.
Professor John Newton, from the agency, said: “The findings show the huge opportunity for preventive public health. If levels of health in the worst performing regions in England matched the best performing ones, England would have one of the lowest burdens of disease of any developed country.
“And even though there have been big falls in premature mortality, the top causes of early deaths in England and in each English region are still heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which to a greater or lesser extent, are attributable to preventable risk factors.”
Fellow researcher Dr Adam Briggs, from Oxford University, said: “Life expectancy is increasing across the country but large inequalities still remain. Life expectancy in 2013 for those living in the most deprived areas was still lower than those in less deprived areas enjoyed in 1990.
"How deprived you are is the key driver of these differences rather than where you live and therefore deprivation and its causes need to be tackled wherever they occur.”
British Heart Foundation medical director Professor Peter Weissberg said: “This study shows how successful the UK has been at reducing deaths from cardiovascular and other diseases through the application of research findings on behaviours such as diet and smoking to improve public health.
“But the burden of disease remains high in the most disadvantaged sectors of our society and our ageing population is increasingly facing multiple medical problems."
John N Newton et al Changes in health in England with analysis by English region and areas of deprivation: findings of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet 15 September 2015 [abstract]
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