Glasgow effect
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/%28looking_down%29_Buchanan_Street%2C_Glasgow.jpg/260px-%28looking_down%29_Buchanan_Street%2C_Glasgow.jpg)
The Glasgow effect is a contested term[1] which refers to the lower life expectancy of residents of Glasgow compared to the rest of the United Kingdom and Europe.[2][3] The phenomenon is defined as an "[e]xcess mortality in the West of Scotland (Glasgow) after controlling for deprivation."[4] Although lower income levels are generally associated with poor health and a shorter lifespan, epidemiologists have argued that poverty alone does not appear to account for the disparity found in Glasgow.[3][5][6][7][8][9] Equally deprived areas of the UK such as Liverpool and Manchester have higher life expectancies, and the wealthiest ten percent of the Glasgow population have a lower life expectancy than the same group in other cities.[10] One in four men in Glasgow will die before his sixty-fifth birthday.[11]
Several hypotheses have been proposed to account for the ill health, including the practice in the 1960s and 1970s of offering young, skilled workers in Glasgow social housing in
Excess mortality and morbidity
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/Red_Road_flats_at_Balornock_-_geograph.org.uk_-_119968.jpg/220px-Red_Road_flats_at_Balornock_-_geograph.org.uk_-_119968.jpg)
The city's mortality gap was not apparent until 1950 and seems to have widened since the 1970s.[10] The Economist wrote in 2012: "It is as if a malign vapour rises from the Clyde at night and settles in the lungs of sleeping Glaswegians."[16]
The mortality rates are the highest in the UK and among the highest in Europe. As of 2016, life expectancy in Scotland was lower for both females and males than anywhere else in western Europe, and was not improving as quickly as in other western European countries.[17] With a population of 1.2 million in greater Glasgow, life expectancy at birth is 71.6 years for men, nearly seven years below the national average of 78.2 years, and 78 years for women, over four years below the national average of 82.3.[15][18][19]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Glasgow_location.png/170px-Glasgow_location.png)
According to the
Research led by David Walsh of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health in 2010 concluded that the deprivation profiles of Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester are almost identical, but premature deaths in Glasgow are over 30 percent higher, and all deaths around 15 percent higher, across almost the entire population.[10] The higher mortality is fueled by stroke, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer, along with deaths caused by alcohol, drugs, violence and suicide.[25] According to a 2016 study, 43 percent of adults are classified as either disabled or chronically ill. Suicide rates are higher than they were in 1968, and the all-cause mortality rate in the 15–44 age group is 142.4 deaths per 100,000.[9] Drug-related deaths in Scotland more than doubled between 2006 and 2016.[26]
Hypotheses
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9b/Derelict_tenement_on_Paisley_Road_West_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1096321.jpg/220px-Derelict_tenement_on_Paisley_Road_West_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1096321.jpg)
The Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) was established in 2004 to study the causes of Glasgow's ill health; the centre's partners are
A GCPH report in 2016 concluded that certain historical processes and policy decisions had left the city more vulnerable to deprivation.[29][30][31][13] Factors include the "lagged effects" of overcrowding and the former practice, in the 1960s and 1970s, of offering young, skilled workers social housing in new towns outside Glasgow; this, according to a 1971 government document, threatened to leave behind an "unbalanced population with a very high proportion of the old, the very poor and the almost unemployable".[32]
Other hypotheses have included a higher prevalence of premature and low-birthweight births;[33] land contaminated by toxins such as chromium;[34] a high level of derelict land, leading to a "negative physical environment";[35] more deindustrialisation than in comparable cities;[36] and low-quality housing estates.
See also
Notes
References
- ^ Walsh, David (2016). "The 'Glasgow Effect' and the 'Scottish Effect': unhelpful terms which have now lost their meaning". Glasgow Centre for Population Health.
- ^ Lewis, Daniel; et al. (2017). "Capturing complexity". In Brown, Tim (ed.). Health Geographies: A Critical Introduction. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. p. 158.
- ^ PMID 22084504. Archived from the originalon 29 November 2013.
- ^ Friis, Robert H.; Sellers, Thomas (2013). Epidemiology for Public Health Practice. London: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 745.
- PMID 20728908.
- PMID 21794886.
- PMID 26124684.
- PMID 26376607.
- ^ PMID 27512652.
- ^ a b c Walsh, David; Bendel, Neil; Jones, Richard; Hanlon, Phil (September 2010). "It's not 'just deprivation': Why do equally deprived UK cities experience different health outcomes?" (PDF). Glasgow Centre for Population Health: 1–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help)Walsh, D.; Bendel, N; Jones, R.; Hanlon, P. (2010). "It's not 'just deprivation': Why do equally deprived UK cities experience different health outcomes?". Public Health. 124 (9): 487–495.
PMID 20223487. - ^ Ash, Lucy (5 June 2014). "Why is Glasgow the UK's sickest city?". BBC News.
- PMID 28697372.
- ^ a b c Mackay, Kirsty (26 February 2021). The Glasgow Effect: examining the city's life expectancy gap –a photo essay. The Guardian.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 218–276.
- ^ a b c d Muriel, Ali (6 November 2012). "Mystery of Glasgow's health problems", The Guardian, 6 November 2012.
- ^ a b c "Unhealthy Glaswegians: No city for old men", The Economist, 25 August 2012.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, p. 24.
- ^ "Glasgow has lowest life expectancy in UK", BBC News, 19 October 2011.
- ^ Reid, James (September 2008). "Excess mortality in the Glasgow conurbation: exploring the existence of a Glasgow effect", PhD thesis, University of Glasgow Faculty of Medicine.
- )
- ^ Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Final Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health (PDF). Geneva: World Health Organization. 2008. p. 32.
- ^ Hanlon, Phil; Walsh, David; Whyte, Bruce (2006). Let Glasgow Flourish (PDF). Glasgow: Glasgow Centre for Population Health.
- ^ "GP explains life expectancy gap". BBC News, 28 August 2008; "Male life expectancy at birth". BBC News, 28 August 2008.
- ^ Whyte, Bruce (2 June 2015). "Life expectancy in Calton—no longer 54". Glasgow Centre for Population Health.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, p. 25.
- ^ Gayle, Damien (15 August 2017). "Drug-related deaths in Scotland more than double in 10 years". The Guardian.
- ^ Tannahill, Carol (27 October 2004). "Introducing the Glasgow Centre for Population Health". Glasgow Centre for Population Health. p. 5.
- ^ Burns, Harry (27 October 2004). "How Health is Created: An Hypothesis". Glasgow Centre for Population Health, p. 15.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016.
- ^ Goodwin, Karin (10 June 2016). "The Glasgow effect: 'We die young here – but you just get on with it'". The Guardian.
- ^ "Scottish 'excess' mortality: comparing Glasgow with Liverpool and Manchester". www.gcph.co.uk. Glasgow Centre for Population Health. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 209–210.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 218–223.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 224–227.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 228–231.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 232–237.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 238–243.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 244–248.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 250–252.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 255–259.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 262–265.
- ^ Walsh et al. 2016, pp. 275–276.
Further reading
Media related to Glasgow effect at Wikimedia Commons
- Glasgow Centre for Population Health (2016). The ‘Glasgow Effect’ and the ‘Scottish Effect’: unhelpful terms which have now lost their meaning.
- Craig, Carol (2010). The Tears that Made the Clyde: Well-being in Glasgow. Argyll: Argyll Publishing.
- Gray, Linsay; Leyland, Alastair H. (2009). "Is the 'Glasgow effect' of cigarette smoking explained by socio-economic status?: A multilevel analysis". BMC Public Health. 9: 245. PMID 19615067.
- Levin, K. A. (2012). "Glasgow smiles better: An examination of adolescent mental well-being and the 'Glasgow effect'". Public Health. 126 (2): 96–103. PMID 22192383.
- Harrison, Ellie (2016). The Glasgow Effect: A tale of class, capitalism and carbon footprint. Edinburgh: Luath Press.
- McCartney, Gerry; Shipley, Martin; Hart, Carole; et al. (2012). "Why Do Males in Scotland Die Younger than Those in England? Evidence from Three Prospective Cohort Studies". PLOS ONE. 7 (7): e38860. PMID 22808017.
- Macdonald, Fleur (16 October 2019). "The 'Glasgow effect' implies cities make us sad. Can the city prove the opposite?". The Guardian.
- McEwen, Bruce S. (7 April 2008). "Central effects of stress hormones in health and disease: understanding the protective and damaging effects of stress and stress mediators". European Journal of Pharmacology. 583 (2–3): 174–185. PMID 18282566.