Ill health

This section concentrates on the health conditions people experience. Being free from illness is part of being healthy but there are other aspects as well which are explored in other parts of this website. The World Health Organization defines health as:

a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Rates of ill-health are commonly reported as rates per 100,000 population or prevalences.

  • Prevalance refers to the total number of individuals in a population who have a disease or health condition at a specific period of time, usually expressed as a percentage of the population.
  • Incidence refers to the number of individuals who develop a specific disease or experience a specific health-related event during a particular time period (such as a month or year).

Disease rates (for example) are often standardised. This means adjusting for the fact that different areas have different age profiles, which affects the likelihood of people being diagnosed with health conditions.

The Bolton picture

Further useful links