Scottish Health Survey: content review outcomes report

Respiratory

During the review we received support to retain the respiratory questions. Asthma and Lung UK Scotland requested we include a new question asking about obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) as this is one of the main disease areas covered in the Respiratory Care Action Plan. 

As with the cardiovascular disease and use of services module, we are removing the duplicate question that asks about COPD as respondents are then asked about doctor-diagnosed COPD. We are also changing the terminology to ask about ‘doctor or other healthcare professional’ to reflect that more specialists can diagnose illnesses.

Based on Asthma and Lung UK Scotland’s request, in 2024 we included new questions asking adults (aged 16+) if they have been told by a doctor or other healthcare professional that they have OSA and if they had OSA during the past 12 months. We will continue to include these questions annually in the main interview in the survey going forward.

For the full respiratory module see annex 11.