Sporting Equals - BME health inequality statistics

BME Health Inequality Statistics

Some BME groups experience worse health than others. For example, surveys commonly show that Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black-Caribbean people report the poorest health, with Indian, East African Asian and Black African people report the same health as White British and Chinese people reporting better health (10)

The Health Survey of England (1999) reports that South Asian men and women as well as all Black Caribbean women aged 55+ report relatively high levels of limiting longstanding illness compared to the general population (11)

The Health Survey of England (1999) also reports that Black Caribbean men and all BME women aged 55+ have a greater incidence of high blood pressure than the general population (12)

Pakistani and Bangladeshi men and women reported worse general health than the general population (13)

Asians aged 50 or over have higher rates of limiting long-term illness than members of any other ethnic groups (14)

In general, elders from BME groups are more likely to report being in poor health and that activity in their daily lives has been restricted due to illness or injury (15)

Pakistanis and Bangladeshis of both sexes were more than five times as likely as the general population to have diabetes, and Indian men and women were almost three times as likely (16)

There are higher rates of coronary heart disease amongst Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups and higher levels of hypertension in the Black-Caribbean group (17)

Rates of diabetes among Black Caribbean's were also significantly higher than in the general population (risk ratios 2.51 for men and 4.19 for women) (18)

References

13, 14, 16, 18 : Ploszajski Lynch Consulting Ltd (2005) Increasing BME Participation In Sport & Physical Activity By Black & Minority Ethnic Communities. 10: Postnote (2007) Ethnicity & Health. Parliamentary Office Of Science & Technology

11, 12, 15, 17: Policy Research Institute On Ageing & Ethnicity (2007) PRIAE Policy Response To The Call For Evidence- 'Mayor of London?s Health Inequalities Strategy.'