Deprived people '30 times more likely to suffer violent death'

SCOTLAND'S wealth gap means those living in the most deprived areas are more than 30 times more likely to die a violent death than those from the richest backgrounds, research shows.

It is estimated that violence costs the Scottish economy around 3 billion a year in healthcare, law enforcement and lost productivity.

Now an analysis by researchers in Glasgow has found the greatest burden lies with the poorest sections of society, who have the highest risk of suffering a fatal assault.

Experts believe a lack of opportunities means those from poorer backgrounds are stuck in areas where deprivation makes crime – including violent attacks – more common, leaving them more prone to assault.

The researchers, writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at all 1,109 deaths due to assault in Scotland between 1980 and 2005.

The murder rate in Scotland has been rising steadily since 1980, alongside death rates from suicide, liver disease and mental health problems due to drug and alcohol abuse.

The researchers found that the rate of fatal assaults was significantly higher in Scotland than in other European high- income countries, with rates among Scottish men more than double those of their peers in Europe.

In Scotland, the most noticeable increase in fatal attacks was among men aged 15 to 44, with rates doubling between 1981 and 2004, mostly due to rising fatal stab wounds.

Looking at levels of deprivation, the researchers, led by Professor Alastair Leyland of the Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, found higher risks among the least well off.

The death rate from fatal assaults among men aged 20 to 59 in manual and labouring jobs was 12 times higher than it was among men of the same age in higher managerial and professional lines of work.

Men under 65 living in the most deprived areas were almost 32 times as likely to die after an assault than those living in the most affluent areas.

This death rate – 127 per 100,000 of the population – is around the same as the rate from strokes, and higher than the death rate from bowel cancer, the researchers said.

For women, the difference was even more striking.

Those living in the poorest areas were 35 times more likely to die after an attack than those in the richest places.

The team said the extent to which inequalities played a role in the risk from fatal assaults was also greater than in other countries.

"Inequalities in mortality due to assault in Scotland exceed those in other countries and are greater than for other causes of death in Scotland," they said.

"Reducing mortality and inequalities depends on addressing the problems of deprivation as well as targeting known contributors, such as alcohol use, the carrying of knives and gang culture."

Dr Charles Saunders, deputy chair of the British Medical Association's Scottish Council, said: "Almost every single health indicator is far worse the more deprived area you live in.

"There is no real reason to expect assaults and other social disadvantage to do anything other than follow the same pattern."