The Scottish Health Survey 2021: summary report

Key findings from the Scottish Health Survey 2021 report.


Chapter 3 Respiratory Conditions including COVID-19

Among all adults in 2021:

16% reported that they had doctor-diagnosed asthma

14% reported having wheezed in the last 12 months, lowest in the time series

26% reported ever having wheezed

Among all children in 2021:

9% reported that they had doctor-diagnosed asthma

11% reported having wheezed in the last 12 months

20% reported ever having wheezed

The prevalence of doctor-diagnosed asthma in children has decreased since 2003.

Boys were more likely to have doctor-diagnosed asthma than girls in 2021.

11% boys

6% girls

While prevalence of doctor-diagnosed asthma in adults did not vary significantly by deprivation in 2021, wheezing in the last 12 months was more common in more deprived areas.

In 2021, doctor-diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease increased with age.

In 2021: 5% of all adults reported having long COVID

The proportion of adults who reported having long COVID differed with age.

1% of adults reported that long COVID limited their activities a lot

The most common symptoms of long COVID amongst adults were:

In 2021, the vast majority of adults reported that they had or were willing to take up the COVID-19 vaccine, while a few said that they were not and the least that they were unsure or preferred not to say.

In 2021, the most common reasons for not taking up the COVID-19 vaccine were:

43% ‘I need more information about the safety of the vaccines’

33% ‘I’m concerned about how quickly the vaccines have been approved’

28% ‘I’m concerned about how quickly the vaccines have been developed’

24% ‘I don’t think COVID-19 would be a serious illness for me’

In 2021, mental wellbeing was lower amongst adults with long COVID compared with those who did not have long COVID.

Mean WEMWBS3 score of 44.7 with long COVID

Mean WEMWBS3 score of 48.8 without long COVID

Mental wellbeing was also lower in 2021 amongst adults who had been advised to shield compared with those who had not.

Mean WEMWBS3 score of 47.1 had been advised to shield

Mean WEMWBS3 score of 48.8 had not been advised to shield

Footnotes

1 - no observations (zero value)

2 0 non-zero values of less than 0.5% and thus rounded to zero

3 WEMWBS scores range from 14 to 70. Higher scores indicate greater wellbeing.

Contact

Email: scottishhealthsurvey@gov.scot

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