Wales - a 2015 picture of health

Fewer teenagers are drinking and smoking in Wales, but there are worries more are on anti-depressants.

Chief medical officer Dr Ruth Hussey's annual report covers all aspects of the health of the country and what the trends are.

Latest figures suggest 15% of boys and 13% of girls are drinking weekly

The highlights are:

• Smoking and drinking rates among teenagers show a "significant" fall. Back in the late 1990s, Wales was second only to Denmark in Europe and America for regular drunkenness.

• Wales has a higher child injury death rate than any other country in the UK. A fifth of A&E admissions of under fours are due to falls, slips or trips resulting in head injuries and concussion.

• Referrals to child mental health services have doubled between 2012 and 2014 - there is a call for action to prevent bullying, avoiding substance misuse, combat domestic violence and promoting self-esteem, is important.

• The prescribing of anti-depressants to 15 to-18-year-olds has seen a "significant increase" - three times higher for girls and twice as high in deprived areas.

Although gonorrhoea cases are rising in Wales, STD incidence is still behind England

• There are calls for a sexual health strategy after concerns cases of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhoea are rising, particularly for people in their 20s.

• Only a very small proportion of adults follow a truly healthy lifestyle.

• Overweight and obesity rates among adults are higher than a decade ago but have not increased in two years - but it is too too early to know whether rates are levelling off.

• Concern about increase in deaths from suicide - "economic downturn likely to be a factor".

• Up to 50% of medicines are not taken at all or not taken as prescribed and deliver no clinical benefit.

• Pregnancies to women living in the highest levels of deprivation are 50% more likely to end in stillbirth or neonatal death - most important modifiable risk factors are smoking, being overweight, high blood pressure, diabetes; advanced maternal age is also a risk factor.

• Uptake of all routine immunisations for babies in the first year of life exceeded 95% target in 2014, except for rotavirus (severe diarrhoea in infants).

Dr Ruth Hussey welcomed the figures on teenager drinking

The fewer numbers of teenagers drinking and smoking was greeted with enthusiasm by Dr Hussey.

"In the 1990s there was concern across many countries that young people were smoking and drinking excessively," she said.

"The significant fall is fantastic news. Often teenagers are criticised for many things but we should celebrate this fact and take lessons from them too.

"Too many adults continue to have unhealthy lifestyles and have significant levels of preventable disease."

However, she noted concern about a "steady rise" in reported mental illness in Wales - and the increasing number of deaths from suicide in recent years.

The report suggests the economic downturn is "likely to be a factor".