Diet, exercise and ciggies to blame and concerns rise over tuberculosis

RESIDENTS of wealthy Belsize Park can expect to live 10 years longer than their counterparts in Holborn and Covent Garden, according to an official report published this week.
The report, by Camden Primary Care Trust (PCT), tells “a tale of two cities” according to health bosses, who warn that social and economic disadvantage have severe affects on health.
Residents of Belsize ward, home to the rich and famous including Sadie Frost, Bob Hoskins and Gwyneth Paltrow, have a life expectancy of 79.6 years, while in poorer Holborn it is just 69.5 years.
And men in Somers Town, Kilburn, Kentish Town and Haverstock wards – ranked as the some of England’s most deprived areas – have life expectancies of less than 71, five years below the national average, dragging the borough-wide life expectancy down to 74.
A combination of lifestyle choices, including smoking, excessive drinking, diet and exercise levels, as well as access to NHS services account for the wide variations, experts say.
The government has made reducing inequality in the NHS a key aim but high levels of smoking and alcoholism in Camden’s deprived areas make progress difficult.
A sky-high rate of suicide – the highest in Britain – also contributes to the low life expectancy.
Director of public health Dr Anthony Kessel said: “Addressing health inequalities is fundamental to improving health in Camden and is an issue of social justice.
“There are wide variations within Camden with areas of high life expectancy and low life expectancy lying side by side.”
Studies show that black and Bangladeshi communities are far less likely to take advantage of stop smoking campaigns in Camden – something which is now being addressed, according to a PCT spokesman.
A 1997 study by the National Institute of Epidemiology at the University of Surrey found that Camden residents had one of the lowest life expectancies in Britain.
PCT chairman John Carrier also cited concerns about rising levels of tuberculosis (TB) – a disease long associated with poverty and overcrowding, which is five times above the national average in Camden.
Most of the 122 people who were infected in 2003 were recent immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is more prevalent, but overcrowding and deprivation mean it is spreading in Camden.
Mr Carrier said: “The old enemy of TB has reappeared in frightening proportions.
“As worrying as this is, some fundamental preventative measures are still resisted by those who could benefit most.”