title: Explaining the excess mortality in Scotland compared with England: pooling of 18 cohort studies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mortality in Scotland is higher than in the rest of west and central Europe and is improving more slowly. Relative to England and Wales, the excess is only partially explained by area deprivation. We tested the extent to which sociodemographic, behavioural, anthropometric and biological factors explain the higher mortality in Scotland compared with England.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pooled data from 18 nationally representative cohort studies comprising the Health Surveys for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Survey (SHS). Cox regression analysis was used to quantify the excess mortality risk in Scotland relative to England with adjustment for baseline characteristics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 193,873 participants with a mean of 9.6 years follow-up gave rise to 21,345 deaths. The age-adjusted and sex-adjusted all-cause mortality HR for Scottish respondents compared with English respondents was 1.40 (95% CI 1.34 to 1.47), which attenuated to 1.29 (95% CI 1.23 to 1.36) with the addition of the baseline socioeconomic and behavioural characteristics. Cause-specific mortality HRs attenuated only marginally to 1.43 (95% 1.28 to 1.60) for ischaemic heart disease, 1.37 (95% CI 1.15 to 1.63) for stroke, 1.41 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.53) for all cancers, 3.43 (95% CI 1.85 to 6.36) for illicit drug-related poisoning and 4.64 (95% CI 3.55 to 6.05) for alcohol-related mortality. The excess was greatest among young adults (16-44 years) and was observed across all occupational social classes with the greatest excess in the unskilled group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only a quarter of the excess mortality among Scottish respondents could be explained by the available baseline risk factors. Greater understanding is required on the lived experience of poverty, the role of social support, and the historical, environmental, cultural and political influences on health in Scotland.
authors.affiliation: NHS Health Scotland, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Gerry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McCartney
authors.affiliation: Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Scottish Dementia Clinical Research Network, NHS Scotland, Murray Royal Hospital, Perth, UK Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Tom C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Russ
authors.affiliation: Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lewsey
authors.affiliation: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology, School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: George Davey
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stamatakis
authors.affiliation: Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: G David
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Batty
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death / Q000639:trends*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000208:ethnology / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cohort studies; MORTALITY; PUBLIC HEALTH; SOCIAL CLASS; SOCIAL EPIDEMIOLOGY