Moving to Scotland may damage your health

Asian people who come to live in Scotland adopt the same bad lifestyle habits – such as poor diet – as Scots, say the authors of a study by Edinburgh University and NHS National Services Scotland.

Consider:
 

• People from India and China typically had a low risk of developing heart disease or stroke, but by adopting a Scottish lifestyle, put themselves at greater risk.
   
• For example, men born in Pakistan but living in Scotland had a 1 per cent higher rate of heart disease deaths than Scottish-born men and 30 per cent higher than men living in England.
  
  Conversely:
   
• English men living in Scotland had a 25 per cent lower death rate than Scottish-born residents.
   
• They also had a 22 per cent lower death rate from heart disease; among women, heart deaths were 20 per cent lower.
  
  The latest research only confirms Scotland's status as the United Kingdom's "heart attack hotspot," say the researchers:
   
• More than 1 in 10 people are estimated to be living with some form of heart or circulation problem in Scotland, with someone falling victim every 15 minutes.
   
• In 2005, there were more than 10,000 deaths from coronary heart disease and almost 6,000 deaths from stroke in Scotland.
  
  Source: Lyndsay Moss, Moving to Scotland 'may damage your health,' The Scotsman, December 12, 2007.
  
  For text: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1934792007
  
  For more on Health Issues: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=16
  
  FMF Policy Bulletin/ 18 December 2007