Inequalities in specific health conditions by deprivation decile
About 2 mins
Key points
- The prevalence of key health conditions is at least one and a half times greater in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived areas.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) shows the greatest relative inequality.
Key health conditions are at least one and a half times more common in the most deprived areas compared with the least
There are significant levels of socioeconomic inequality in diagnosed illness in England. Health Foundation analysis shows that a small group of long-term conditions make up 90% of the difference in the average levels of diagnosed illness between the most and least deprived areas: chronic pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and anxiety and depression.
This chart shows the share of the population aged 20 years and older with specific diagnosed health conditions, by deprivation decile.
- The prevalence of these conditions in the 10% most deprived areas is at least one and a half times that in the 10% least deprived areas.
- The largest relative difference is in COPD – in the most deprived areas it is 3.6 times more prevalent than in the least deprived areas. The second largest relative difference is in chronic pain, which is 2.5 times more prevalent in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas.
- There is inequality in these conditions between every decile of deprivation. For conditions such as chronic pain, anxiety and depression, COPD and coronary heart disease, the difference in prevalence between the most deprived areas (1st decile) and the second most deprived areas (2nd decile) is much starker than the prevalence across all other adjacent deciles of deprivation.
- This analysis uses detailed patient-level administrative data linked for primary (CPRD Aurum) and secondary care (Hospital Episode Statistics) from a large patient sample (2 million before sample exclusions). This was then linked by the data provider to geographical data to estimate the difference in diagnosed illness by level of deprivation in England in 2019.
- Deprivation is captured using the English Index of Multiple Deprivation. The index ranks small areas in England from most deprived to least deprived and divides them into 10 equal groups (deciles). Decile 1 represents the most deprived 10% of local areas, while decile 10 represents the least deprived 10%.
- Prevalence of chronic pain is calculated using data on prescriptions of painkillers.
- Read the full report: Health in 2040: projected patterns of illness in England
Source: Health Foundation REAL Centre analysis of patient level primary care data (CPRD) linked to HES and ONS mortality data
