‘The Glasgow effect’ is a term used to describe the relationship between Glasgow and poor health and deprivation. After reading the document I discovered that the whole idea of the document is related to income deprivation, age deprivation and sex deprivation but the main findings of the research were closely linked to deprivation overall. The study shows that Glasgow’s levels and patterns of deprivation are almost identical to those of the two other large UK cities, Liverpool and Manchester. however, despite the similarity in deprivation in these areas, Glasgow morality rates are significantly higher than Liverpool and Manchester. The findings show that lung cancer has a 27% higher mortality rate in Glasgow than the other two cities. This trend is the same for suicide, Glasgow has a 70% higher mortality rate than Manchester and Liverpool. Two other higher mortality rates in Glasgow than Manchester and Liverpool are drug and alcohol related deaths with alcohol related deaths being 2.3 times higher (alcohol) and 2.5 times higher (drugs) than Manchester and Liverpool.
Research has also show that ‘The Glasgow effect’ is not something that has always been a prominent feature in Scottish health and deprivation. Research has shown that mortality rates were not always higher than Liverpool and Manchester and that Glasgow rates can be seen improving more slowly than rates in Manchester and Liverpool in the latter part of the 20th century. This suggests that ‘The Glasgow effect’ is a relatively recent phenomenon.
Given the research carried out and considering Scottish culture, it could be determined that ‘The Glasgow effect’ could be caused by many health factors and choices/behaviours such as binge drinking, excessive alcohol consumption, love of fried food, poor diet and a lack of exercise. Cultural and/or social influences clearly contributes to the quality of life and the lifestyle that people lead within certain parts of the country and therefore significantly contributes to ‘The Glasgow effect’.
Considering my own opinion and after looking into ‘The Glasgow effect’, I believe that as a whole country generalisation, we as a country are not a healthy country, however, this is down to the individual and the individual’s choices and behaviours. In general, I do not think that Scotland is as healthy as we generally have a poor diet, a lack of exercise and a tendency to binge drink. This has led to high rates of mortality compared with the rest of Europe which could easily be changed by making small changes to our diet and lifestyle such as eating more fruit and vegetables, which has been shown to increase our quality of life and benefit our body significantly. We could also drink in moderation and not drink to just get drunk all the time. By including physical exercise such as more walking or playing sports could also help reverse the effects of ‘The Glasgow effect’.
