Long Term Monitoring of Health Inequalities: Headline Indicators – October 2014

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) - deaths aged 45-74 years

Since 1997, there has been a considerable decrease in CHD mortality amongst the population aged 45-74 years. The death rate fell by 63% over this period to 139.7 per 100,000 in 2012, the lowest rate in the reporting period (1997 to 2012). However, CHD remains one of Scotland's biggest causes of premature mortality, with around 2,600 deaths occurring in this age group in 2012.

Premature mortality from CHD is around five times more common in Scotland's most deprived areas than in the least deprived (261.4 deaths per 100,000 population compared to 54.2 per 100,000, in 2012). Over time, the death rate, in percentage terms, has fallen more quickly in the least deprived areas than in the most deprived, resulting in increased relative inequality. This trend has stabilised somewhat since 2008, though a further increase in the last year took relative inequality to its highest level in the time series in 2012.

The level of inequality in absolute terms has fallen over time, with consecutive decreases from 1998 to 2002 and 2003 to 2006. The gap between rates in the most and least deprived areas is now 47% smaller than in 1998 (when the gap was widest in the time series).

Inequalities gradient in 2012

Relative Index of Inequality (RII) over time

Absolute range over time

Scale / context