Scotland's health: Anxiety levels rising among men

The Scottish Health Survey attempts to measure the wellbeing of people living in Scotland. What does it reveal about the nation's health?

Men are getting more anxious

The official 2019 Scottish government survey held interviews in 3,245 households with 4,903 adults (aged 16 and over) and 1,978 children.

It says that 14% of those surveyed reported having two or more anxiety symptoms.

This figure was the highest recorded by the health survey which has been carried out since 2008.

Women remain more likely to display symptoms of anxiety (15%) but there has been a significant increase in men (from 9% in 2016/17 to 13% in 2018/19).

The proportion of men that reported having two or more symptoms of depression has also increased steadily from 7% in 2010/2011 to 12% in 2018/2019.

For women the rate has fluctuated over time, however, it remained at the highest level recorded (11%).

In 2018/2019, 7% of adults reported that they had attempted suicide at some point in their life.

Good teeth make you happier

The 2019 survey said most adults in Scotland reported having no issues with their mouth, teeth or dentures.

The most common issue reported was with eating food (6%), followed by smiling, laughing and showing teeth without embarrassment (4%).

Adults who had any issues with their mouth, teeth or dentures had lower mental wellbeing scores than those who had no issues, the report said.

Boozing continues to fall slowly

The survey recorded a significant decrease in hazardous or harmful drinking between 2003 and 2013, with a continued smaller fall since.

The highest prevalence of harmful drinking for men was among those aged 55-64 and for women among those aged 45-54.

The average number of units of alcohol consumed per week by adults has decreased since 2003, with 2019 being the lowest so far recorded.

Smoking down to lowest level

The latest health survey shows 17% of Scottish adults reported smoking, the lowest level recorded.

Men smoked a higher number of cigarettes per day on average than women in 2019.

The gap between the richest and poorest in Scotland has continued to widen, with people in the most deprived areas now more than five times as likely to smoke (32%) than those in the least deprived areas (6%).

Smoking prevalence in 2019 was highest among those aged 25 - 44 (22%).

The survey said 7% of all adults were current e-cigarette users and another 13% had used them in the past.

The highest proportion of current e-cigarette users in 2019 was among those aged 35-44.

Scots are not eating any more fruit and veg

In 2019, about one in five of all adults consumed five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, the survey said.

This was similar to levels recorded since 2003.

There was no significant difference between men (3.2 portions) and women (3.3 portions)

Two in three adults are overweight

The survey said two in three adults in Scotland were overweight or obese.

Women (36%) were more likely than men (29%) to be within the healthy weight range.

The mean average body mass index for all adults was 27.9 with no significant difference by sex, the upper limit for a healthy weight is 25.

Boys are becoming less active

In 2019, the proportion of children (aged 2-15) who met the recommended weekly physical activity level was the lowest since they began recording it in 1998.

This decrease appears to be driven by a drop in activity levels among boys (down to 71%) with no significant decrease recorded for girls.

Among adults, men (71%) were more likely than women (61%) to meet the moderate or vigorous physical activity guidelines.

Adults who met the physical activity guidelines had higher mental wellbeing than those who did not.

Adverse childhood experiences

This year's survey asked for the first time about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

The most common ACE was verbal abuse (experienced by 47%) but others included physical abuse (28%), household domestic violence (24%) and parental separation (23%).

Household mental illness (19%) alcohol abuse (16%),and sexual abuse (7%) were other prominent ACEs.

The survey showed that 15% of adults reported four or more ACEs, with those in the most deprived areas almost twice as likely as those in the least deprived areas to report them.

Researchers found that people who report four or more ACEs are significantly more likely to have obesity, be a current smoker, have a limiting long-term health condition, have any cardiovascular disease, not meet the physical activity guidelines, have lower mental wellbeing or not have a degree-level qualification or higher.