Income's Link To Health

Intro- In the UK many factors effect health eg lifestyle choices Individual lifestyle choices include smoking, drinking and diet While a persons lifestyle choices effect an individuals health income does have a much bigger impact.

Para 2- Lifestyle (Diet) A persons diet can be influenced by the money they have available Fruit and Veg is expensive and will not stay as fresh as long as some processed less healthy foods Explains why 69% of most affluent women eat fruit and veg daily Only 44% of least affluent women do  In terms of exercise some leisure activities cost a lot of money  poor children are also much less likely to have a safe place outside to play It is clear income does effect health this way as 25% of DE obese and 10% of A obese

Para 3 - Geographical Location People with more money can afford to live in better areas  People with less money sometimes can only afford to live in poor quality housing This poor quality housing usually involves dampness which can cause respiratory problems   47% of children with athsma are from the poorest 10% of families 83% of children living in a damp flat suffer from breathing problems Within cities geographical location is also seen clearly For example in Calton in Glasgow the Caci report showed lifer exp to be 58 and only a few miles away Lenzie to be 82 

Para 4 - Gender Women traditionally live longer than men  Women may have stronger relationship with doctors as they go through things like pregnancy 90% of men have said rarely go to doctors - macho society 1/3 men smoke and 1/3 drink more than weekly amount Men are however much more likely to work in manual jobs where accidents are much less likely to occur These inequalities have always existed as various reports including The Black Report, 1980 and Acheson report 1998 have shown. The Acheson report showed that 29% of men smoked and of those men 41% were from and unskilled background and 4% professional. There is still a link between men and women and income, less obvious

Para 4 - Ethnicity  Hereditary and congenital diseases exist between races which are not linked to income However Bangledeshi and Pakistani races are the poorest minorities in UK they also have the worst health Infant mortality is twices as high amongst Pakistani babies than whites and 68% are caused by the baby having a low birth weight.  Clear income has a strong link to health

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