Mental wellbeing worse but number of smokers down in Tayside says Scottish Health Survey

Mental wellbeing in adults across Scotland has declined, online gambling has doubled in a decade but smoking has reached a new low.

The annual Scottish Health Survey is out this week which gives a detailed picture of the health of the nation.

It covers topics including mental wellbeing, smoking, alcohol and gambling.

We take a look at the national figures to see how Tayside compares.

The survey was carried out in 2021 by the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) and the Scottish Government.

National health headlines

Nationally, the survey reveals headline health issues for Scotland including:

• • Mental wellbeing has declined since the pandemic, to 48.6%.
  • Online gambling has doubled over the past decade.
  • And 22% of adults have a possible psychiatric disorder, up from between 17 and 19% in the last survey.

But interestingly:

• There’s a long-term decline in smoking nationally to 11%.
• Prevalence of hazardous or harmful weekly alcohol consumption has reduced to 23%.
• More adults (69%) met the moderate or vigorous physical activity guidelines than in previous years.

What about Tayside?

We’ve taken a look at the figures for Tayside.

Mental wellbeing in Tayside is higher than reported nationally.

It increased slightly to 50% for the region in the latest survey, up from 49.9% in the previous survey.

While 19% of adults are reported to have a possible psychiatric disorder.

Although this figure is lower than the national average, it is a significant increase in Tayside from 16% reported previously.

Higher number of smokers

But when it came to smoking, Tayside is higher than the national figures.

While 11% is the national figure, 16% of those surveyed who live in Tayside said they were a current smoker, the same figure as reported in the previous survey.

But interestingly, the numbers are still falling over time.

Tayside’s current statistic is a significant drop from the Tayside figure in the 2012 to 2015 survey, which was 25%.

Prevalence of hazardous or harmful weekly alcohol consumption in Tayside is 22%.

Again, this is lower than reported nationally and a figure which has stayed consistently around this level in the region.

Getting physical

When it came to physical activity, Tayside also performed well.

It was reported 67% of adults were meeting the recommended levels in the region.

Victoria Wilson, research director at the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen), says: “This important annual survey makes a major contribution to understanding and monitoring the health of people in Scotland.”