Gap in life expectancy across Bristol
A report says men in some parts of the city die ten years sooner than others
Men in the most deprived areas of Bristol die 10 years younger than those in the richest parts of the city, a new report has revealed.
Annual data has exposed huge variations between the health and fortunes of residents depending on where they live, including vastly different rates of domestic abuse, child development and illness.
It also shows that more than 10,000 Bristolians needed hospital treatment for Covid-19.
The report to Bristol City Council health and wellbeing board, which oversees the response to the overall health needs of the local population and uses the statistics to design services, says life expectancy for men is 78.5 years, just below the England average but “significantly- lower” than the 82.7 years for women.
It said: “By sub-locality the lowest male life expectancy is in Inner City (76.9 years) and by ward is in Lawrence Hill (73.7 years).
“Male life expectancy in Inner City is unexpectedly low compared to female life expectancy in that area.
“Further investigation is needed to identify the reason for the low male life expectancy in Inner City.
“The gap in life expectancy between most and least deprived groups in Bristol for males is 9.9 years and shows no clear sign of reducing.”
The report said men lived just over half a year longer than they did a decade ago and women roughly two months longer but that the latest figures had fallen slightly for both sexes.
It said: “There are large differences in life expectancy between the wards of Bristol.
“The highest life expectancy occurs in Cotham for females: 88.1 years and for males: 84.1 years.”
The lowest life expectancy for women was in Southville at 78.1 years, it said.
“There are considerable disparities within and across the city between those living in the most deprived and least deprived areas,” said the report, called the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Health and Wellbeing Profile 2021/22 annual summary.
“Some of the reported data now covers the pandemic period and starts to help us understand its impact upon the changing health and care needs of Bristol residents and identify opportunities for improving the health of our population and reducing inequalities in health.”
It said there were nearly 162,000 reported cases of Covid-19 in the city from March 2020 to the end of March this year, of which 10,866 residents had been in hospital.
The report said the rate of domestic abuse-related incidents and crimes in 2020/21 was 28.4 per cent per 1,000 population for over-16s, down slightly from the previous year, but that this ranged from six per 1,000 in Clifton Down to 77 per 1,000 in Hartcliffe & Withywood.
Just 56 per cent of children under five in Hartcliffe & Withywood were assessed as having a good level of development compared with 86 per cent in Redland, while the Bristol-wide average was 71 per cent.
The report said four per cent of full-term babies with a low birth weight from 2018-20 lived in the worst-off areas compared with 1.3 per cent in the least deprived.
It said the proportion of all infants with a low birth weight in the most deprived neighbourhoods was 7.7 per cent – almost double the 3.9 per cent in the least.
“There is significant variation in breastfeeding initiation rates across Bristol, with much lower initiation rates for women living in deprived wards, especially in the South of the city,” the figures showed.
“Initiation rates at 48 hours ranged from 99 per cent in Westbury on Trym and Henleaze to 45 per cent in Hartcliffe & Withywood during 2021/22.
“Data reported by specialist teenage pregnancy staff working in the city indicates that it is likely that higher rates of teenage conception continue to be found where deprivation is higher.
“In 2019/20 there were 829 emergency hospital admissions due to unintentional and deliberate injuries in children aged 0 to 14 years.
“This is a rate of 102 per 10,000 children, significantly above the England average of 91 per 10,000.
“Among young people 15-24 years there were 1,219 injury hospital admissions, a rate of 158 per 10,000 population, significantly higher than the England average of 131 per 10,000.
“Injury admission rates in young people in Bristol have risen in recent years, the highest causes being intentional self-poisoning or self-harm.
“Children and young people in Bristol have higher than national rates of hospital admissions for mental health conditions and for self-harm.”
The report said about one in four reception-year children in the city and one-in-three Year Six pupils were overweight or obese.
“Excess weight in reception-year pupils shows a strong association with deprivation, with the highest rate of 32 per cent in Hartcliffe & Withywood,” it said.
“Excess weight in Year Six pupils also tends to be higher in more deprived wards with the highest rate of 43 per cent in Lawrence Hill.
“Over half the adult Bristol population are overweight or obese (57.3 per cent).
“This is lower than the national average (62.8 per cent) and the lowest of all core cities. “There is a wide variation across the city by ward ranging from 28 per cent overweight and obese in Clifton to 64 per cent in Henbury & Brentry.
“Poverty and deprivation are associated with a higher risk of excess weight in Bristol with the wards of Henbury & Brentry, Hillfields, Hartcliffe & Withywood, Filwood, Avonmouth & Lawrence Weston and Bishopsworth significantly worse than the Bristol average.
“In 2020, 15.8 per cent of Bristol adults smoked, significantly higher than the national rate of 12.1 per cent.
“There is significant variation in smoking prevalence across the city which mirrors patterns of deprivation and health inequalities.
“Alcohol-related harm has risen in Bristol, as evidenced by a rising trend in admissions to hospital for alcohol-related conditions.
“There were 3,592 stays in hospital due to alcohol-related harm in 2019/20, higher than the national average.
“Admission rates are higher among the most deprived Bristol population.
“The rate of deaths in Bristol from drug misuse was 8.9 per 100,000 persons for 2018-20, significantly higher than the national average of 5.0.
“This represents the highest rate for Bristol over the last 18 years.”
It said 59,688 adults suffered from depression in 2020/21, a seven per cent increase on the previous year.
“The prevalence of depression has been increasing since 2003/04, and in 2020/21 has increased to 13.5 per cent (an increase on the pre-pandemic level of 12.6 per cent in 2019/20).
“The rates of self-harm admissions in Bristol are higher than the England average for both men and women in 2020/21.
“The rate of admissions among women is almost twice as high as the rate among men.”
It said the admissions rate in the poorest areas was 2.7 times higher that of the most prosperous.
The report said there were 2,482 recorded hate crimes in 2021/22, a huge rise of 29 per cent on the previous 12 months, with 71 per cent of those on the basis of racial prejudice, followed by sexual orientation accounting for 12 per cent and eight per cent on disability.