Is being Scottish bad for your health?

Researchers at Edinburgh University revealed that an unknown "X-factor" - not linked to the usual suspects of poor diet, smoking, lack of exercise and poverty - appears to be responsible for those living in Scotland having a 50 per cent higher chance of getting the potentially fatal condition than people south of the Border.

They think an as-yet unidentified genetic, behavioural and environmental factor - such as the water or having Celtic genes - could be responsible.

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, investigated the backgrounds of more than 6,000 people aged 45 to 74 in Scotland and England.

Even when personal economic circumstances, health, behaviour and blood chemistry, including cholesterol, were taken into account, the average person in Scotland is still 50 per cent more likely to have heart disease than in England.

Dr Richard Mitchell, the head of risk and resilience at Edinburgh University's division of community health sciences, who led the project, said: "Maybe it's more dangerous to be a poor-eating, non-exercising smoker if you are a Celt than if you are not, but you might wonder why we don't see it in Wales or south-west England.

"Perhaps there is something about the Scottish diet which is particularly bad for you. We are considering all sorts of possibilities but other factors could be the harsh climate, bad housing or even that there is something in the water." He said that researchers, who included experts from Imperial College and University College, London, had been surprised they had not discovered the causes behind Scotland's notoriously high rates of heart disease.

In 2002, 215 out of every 100,000 men in Scotland died from heart disease - the second highest rate in western Europe.

"We were pretty convinced we were going to explain the Scottish effect for heart disease. The message from this study is that while we know the usual suspects are bad for you, there's obviously something else going on. There is a factor we don't know much about and we're almost starting from scratch [trying to find it]," said Dr Mitchell. He stressed that the existing advice - stop smoking, drink in moderation, eat less fat and take some exercise - should remain the same.

Dr Mitchell added that the mystery factor appeared to affect Scotland as a whole with no area at more or less risk.

"We were expecting to see Glasgow sticking out like a sore thumb, but in fact that isn't the case," he said.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said:

"If it turns out to be true - that Scots are still at higher risk of having a heart attack once you've taken away all the known factors - that says something very interesting. "The likelihood, if there are differences, is that they are a multiplicity of small environmental and genetic factors which add up to a greater risk."

Cancer, heart disease and strokes claimed fewer lives in Scotland at the start of 2005 than in the same period last year. The registrar-general's provisional quarterly statistics for January to March showed that 3,810 Scots died from cancer - 54 fewer than in the first quarter of 2004. Coronary heart-disease deaths fell by 58 to 2,832, while strokes claimed 1,701 lives, down by 66.

LIKE OWNER, LIKE PET

SCOTTISH pets have the UK's worst record for heart disease. According to the records of 245,000 animals treated in the UK by the PDSA veterinary charity, Scots dogs, cats and other animals have the worst cardio-vascular health.

Overall in the UK, pets are six times more likely to suffer heart disease than diabetes and it accounts for one in every 28 pets seen by the PDSA with dogs twice as likely to suffer as cats.

Liza Randall, a PDSA spokeswoman said, "We often treat pets as a member of the family, and as a result, it's inevitable our diet and exercise choices will have an impact on their health and well-being too.

"Owners really should think twice before they share sweets or biscuits with their pet and with summer on the way, what better time to start walking together?

"You're both bound to benefit, and it may mean you can look forward to a longer and healthier life together."