How healthy are we?

A FASCINATING snapshot into how Oldhamers understand their own health has been captured in the Oldham Public Health Report 2008.

It found that for many Oldhamers, health was not a concern until they were ill and health improvement was not a priority.

Residents understood the importance of healthy eating but many felt healthy food was too expensive.

The idea of being healthy was often tied in to looking good, with losing weight and looking good as the main reason for exercising.

Residents were happy with the range of health services on offer, especially the walk-in clinic.

Alan Higgins, NHS Oldham’s director of public health, said: “The research demonstrates that communities in Oldham need an approach that suits their individual needs; a social, economic and physical environment that supports them to be healthy; and the creation of a culture in Oldham that expects and seeks good health.”

The report also highlights key health indicators in Oldham including life expectancy, mortality from circulatory diseases, cancer and respiratory disease.

We examine how Oldham’s 219,600-resident population fared.





So, what’s the Oldham diagnosis?




Life expectancy



Figures show men in Oldham are expected to live to just under 76-years-old compared with the national average of 78.



Oldham women are expected to live to 78, four years less than the female national average of 82.

Life expectancy rates have risen in Oldham but the borough still has a lower life expectancy than both the North-West and England average.




Life expectancy by ward



There is a 10.2 year gap between the lowest and highest life expectancy for men.



Men living in the Alexandra ward have the lowest life expectancy in the borough at 69.5-years-old.

Men in Saddleworth North have the highest life expectancy at 79.7.

Women in Alexandra have the lowest female life expectancy at 74.1- years-old, while women in Saddleworth South have the highest at 85.

However, there has been a greater increase in female life expectancy in the Alexandra ward than Saddleworth South compared with last year’s report.




Smoking



AROUND 29 per cent of the adult population in Oldham are smokers — higher than the national estimate of 24 per cent. Smoking has a marked negative effect on life expectancy and health inequalities.l Infant mortality rate



Infant mortality rates in 2006 were highest in the wards of St Mary’s and Shaw with rates of 18 and 12 deaths per 1,000 births respectively.

Infant death rates in Oldham have not declined, and are still higher than the England and North-West averages.




Cardio-vascular disease



Deaths from heart disease shows a decline in male mortality, but a slight increase in female mortality in the under-75s.



For both men and women, ischaemic heart disease (such as angina, heart attack and arrhythmia) and stroke are the main causes of death.




Child dental health



Oldham is the eighth-worst borough in the country for tooth decay in five-year-olds.



In Oldham, St Mary’s and Werneth were the wards with the highest percentage of five-year-old children affected by decayed, missing and filled teeth in 2005-06. In those wards, between 70 to 100 per cent of children of that age were affected compared with less than 30 per cent of children living in Saddleworth South.




Premature deaths from cancer



Despite male cancer mortality declining steadily both nationally and in the North-West, the rate in Oldham has started to rise since 2005.



For women, the gap in female mortality rates for cancer has increased between Oldham and England. Lung cancer causes the most cancer deaths among men (46 per cent). Both lung cancer and breast cancer cause the same percentage of cancer deaths among women (36 per cent).




Excess winter deaths



THE number of winter deaths (deaths between December and March) varies depending on temperature and level of disease in the population, among other factors.



In the winter of 2006-07, there were 713 more deaths compared with non-winter months. Older people were most affected with 486 of these deaths occurring in people over 75 years of age.

Fewer than 251 of the total deaths were among the under-75s.




Teenage conceptions



Rates of conception for 15 to 17-year-olds have dropped from 60 per 1,000 in 2004 to 45 per 1,000 in 2006.



In Oldham, teenage pregnancy rates are currently slightly above the regional and national average.

But the latest 2006 figures show a downward trend as the rate has continued to fall and remains below the Greater Manchester rate.




Suicide



Figures show between 1995 and 2006, suicides among women in Oldham dropped to their lowest level.



Rates of suicide for men in Oldham have remained stable during the same period.

But changes in mortality are difficult to interpret due to the small numbers of deaths from suicide and undetermined injury each year.




Main causes of death



Premature deaths (deaths at under 75) for men are primarily circulatory diseases, followed by all cancers and then respiratory disease.



For women, the main causes of premature deaths are all cancers, followed by circulatory diseases and then respiratory diseases.