The Scottish Health Survey 2021: summary 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.