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Healthy life expectancy: NHS boards

Males

Chart 1 and the accompanying Table 1 Excel file icon (78KB) show male life expectancy (LE) and healthy life expectancy (HLE) at birth for the 14 Scottish NHS board areas. Trends in LE cover four 5-year periods; 1994-98, 1996-2000, 1999-2003 and 2001-05. HLE data are presented only for the period 1999-2003, based on 5 years of data on deaths and populations, and a single year of data for self-assessed health from the Scotland Census for 2001 (the middle year).

  • When ordered by LE at birth in 1999-2003, Borders NHS Board had the highest male LE (75.7 years) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde the lowest (70.8 years). 
  • Like Scotland, all boards tended to show a steady increase in LE at birth over time. 
  • HLE at birth broadly followed the same pattern across the 14 boards as LE at birth, with Orkney and Borders having the highest male HLE (both 70.4 years) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde the lowest (62.2 years).
  • There were some exceptions. Western Isles NHS Board had the second lowest LE at birth (72.1 years) but only the fourth lowest HLE at birth (66.7 years). The three island boards had some of the shortest periods expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE); around 5 years. By contrast, the figure for Greater Glasgow and Clyde was nearly 9 years. 
  • As expected, the 95% confidence intervals for LE and HLE were widest for the three island boards with small populations (Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles).

Females

Chart 2 and the accompanying Table 2 Excel file icon (58KB) show the comparable data for females for LE and HLE at birth, by NHS board area. (Note that the chart y axis scale is different from Chart 1.)

  • When ordered by LE at birth in 1999-2003, Orkney NHS Board had the highest female LE (81.6 years) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde the lowest (77.4 years). 
  • Like Scotland, most boards showed a steady increase in LE at birth over time. 
  • HLE at birth broadly followed the same pattern across the 14 boards as LE at birth, with Orkney having the highest female HLE (76.1 years) and Greater Glasgow and Clyde the lowest (66.9 years). 
  • Similarly, the period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health (LE minus HLE) ranged from 5.5 years in Orkney to 10.5 years in Greater Glasgow and Clyde. 
  • As expected, the 95% confidence intervals for LE and HLE at birth were widest for the three island boards with small populations (Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles).

Further information

Table 3 provides the life tables for males and females Excel file icon (486KB) for the 14 NHS board areas in Scotland, based on the 5-year period 1999-2003 (as presented for LE and HLE at birth above and in the Scottish health and wellbeing profiles). These allow the user to look at LE and HLE at ages other than birth (with 95% confidence limits). Also shown for each age group are: the population estimate, number of death registrations, proportion of population surviving to a specific age, number reporting SAH, proportion with ‘not good’ health, and period expected to be spent in ‘not good’ health.

The technical paperPDF Button (155KB) provides further information on life tables and methodology, data sources, geography, etc.