Health inequalities

• A person's class background


  Significant impact on their quality of health
• Health inequalities


  Can begin from birth
• Low birth weights are much more common in social classes D+E
• Low birth weights


  Often linked to the poor lifestyle choices of the mother while they are with child, such as a poor diet and smoking
• In 2021, 3.3% of term babies were born with a low birth weight in the most deprived areas of England compared to 2.4% in the least deprived areas
• A person's class background


  Can cause health inequalities even from birth
• Those born into lower classes are, by no fault of their own, already more likely to suffer from lower quality of health
• Those in social classes D+E

  Earn lower incomes, which can cause enormous stress levels of stress
• People living in poverty


  Their mental and physical health will be negatively impacted by this stress, potentially causing long-term health issues and thus lower life expectancy
• People from Scotland's most deprived areas are more than three times as likely to be treated for mental illness than those in more affluent communities
• The class divide in the UK is creating a disparity in quality of health between those from the lower and higher social classes
• More must be done by the Government in order to give each individual an equal chance at success in life from birth and break down social class barriers
• Those from the lower classes are less able to make healthy lifestyle choices
• Those from lower classes

  Have lower incomes than those in the higher classes, and therefore cannot afford to make healthier lifestyle choices as healthier foods, gym memberships, etc. are all costly
• Healthy nutritious food is nearly three times more expensive than obesogenic unhealthy products
• Unhealthy lifestyle choices made most commonly in the lower classes will be inherited
• Over 20% of smoking households in the UK live below the poverty line
• Those from the lower social classes are far more likely to make lifestyle choices that are to the detriment of their health
• Male and female life expectancy in the UK is increasing steadily
• As life expectancy increases

  Levels of morbidity also rise accordingly, so while the population is living longer, the issue with this is that health becomes poorer the longer you live for
• There's a projected increase of 2.5 million more people in the UK to be living with a major illness in 2040 compared to 2019, and 80% of this increase will be people over 70
• Dementia is a serious issue faced by the UK's elderly population
• Dementia risk


  Increases with age
• Estimated dementia prevalence rates are just 0.1% for people under the age of 64 years to 15.9% for people aged over 80 years
• Gender biases in clinical trials and research are contributing to worse health outcomes for women
• Women in the UK have more than double the rate of death in the 30 days following a heart attack compared with men
• Women still have a higher life expectancy than men do
• Historically it has been men that have taken in the stress of working


  Men have been more likely to be unwell than women
• The gap between men and women's life expectancy is 4 years, with women living to around 83 and men to 79
• Social class is the key cause of health inequalities in the UK
• Social class


  Overlaps with other factors like gender and age that contribute to health inequalities
• Health inequalities


  Linked to income inequalities, with each feeding into the other as causes
• The government must try and implement new policies in order to break down social class barriers and break the poverty cycle, in order to allow for each UK citizen to have a more equal quality of health
• Cause of health inequalities in the UK

  • Poor lifestyle choices, specifically related to diet and exercise
• Individuals who adopt a healthy lifestyle are less likely to experience health issues and are more likely to live a longer life than those who ignore the advice or recommendations of medical experts and the government
• Balanced diet


  Consists of a wide range of fruits, vegetables and proteins, and avoiding unhealthy foods such as takeaways and heat up meals because they include a lot of sugar and fats
• Many people choose to ignore the government recommendation of 30 minutes of exercise per day
• Poor lifestyle choices


  Health in the UK will deteriorate
• 1 in 6 deaths in the UK can be attributed to a lack of exercise
• 57% of women and 67% of men in the UK are overweight or obese