UK given wake-up call over premature death rate

In what they described as “startling findings” which are a “wake-up call” for the UK, they found the nation’s ranking for health outcomes against 15 other European countries, Canada, Australia and the United States had failed to improve despite six decades of universal free healthcare and huge increases in health expenditure.

Between 1990 and 2010 life expectancy in the UK increased by an average of 4.2 years to 79.9.

But the trend masked worrying declines when matched against other nations.

In 1990 the UK ranked 10th in a league table of 19 countries showing years of life lost per 100,000 people, which is a standard method of measuring levels of premature death.

Two decades later Britain had slipped to 14th in the table.

In terms of death rates, the UK’s position in the table fell from 12th in 1990 to 14th in 2010.

Some causes of death had taken a greater toll over the two decades, including Alzheimer’s disease, cirrhosis of the liver and drug use disorders.

For Britain the best news was that it saw the largest fall in death rates from heart disease of any of the 19 countries.

Outlining their findings in The Lancet medical journal, the international authors pointed to the biggest individual risk factors for illness and disease in the UK.

Heading the list was tobacco, accounting for 12 per cent of 
the disease burden, followed by high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol and poor diet.

Across all ages, the top eight diseases responsible for the most years of life lost in the UK remained largely the same in 2010 as those reported in 1990.

In order, these were heart disease, lung cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lower respiratory infections, bowel cancer, breast cancer and self harm. Years of life lost from drugs increased nearly six-fold over the 20-year period.

Co-author Prof Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at Public Health England (PHE), said the report was a “wake up call” for the UK.

He added: “The reality is that nearly all of these conditions are either preventable or amenable to early intervention, providing opportunities to make a substantial difference in people’s lives, and reduce the tremendous psycho-social and economic burden of poor health on our society.

“Ultimately, in order to really make a difference in improving our nation’s health, concerted action will be required, with individuals, families, local communities, local councils, the NHS and government all taking responsibility and working together towards a healthier population.

“We already have a range of effective tools for individuals, clinicians, and policymakers to respond to these health challenges. We need to apply and scale-up what we know works. And we need the will to make this happen.”

Prof John Newton, chief knowledge officer at PHE, said: “These relatively poor results for mortality and disability in the UK require a response at every level and from all responsible authorities.

“For example, the data on contribution of different risk factors clearly show the need to redouble our efforts on smoking, high blood pressure and obesity.

“The NHS must pay more attention to prevention and early intervention but the underlying causes often have little to do with healthcare.”