Middle-aged Islanders no healthier than in 2007

Middle-aged Islanders no healthier than in 2007

And almost a third of men and a fifth of women aged 40 to 59 are still drinking at hazardous levels which carry risks of physical and psychological harm.

The report, from the States Statistics Unit, shows that a quarter of middle-aged Islanders – who account for almost a third of the population – suffer from a long-term illness, disability or infirmity – a level similar to 2007.

A total of 58 per cent of middle-aged men and 47 per cent of middle-aged women are classified as overweight or obese, and 21 per cent and 14 per cent smoke. Those figures, the report says, have also remained largely static since 2007, and that is despite investment in the 2014 Alcohol and Licensing Strategy and numerous tobacco and healthy eating plans.

Martin Knight, the Island’s head of health improvement, said the report shows there is still much work to do in key areas of health promotion.

However, he said that government health-improvement funding was often rightly targeted at young people, where it is proven to make a difference, compared to those in the 40s and 50s whose behaviours are harder to change.

‘We recognise that we need to double, treble, quadruple our efforts in these areas,’ he said.

‘We do know that behaviours, and particularly health behaviours in middle age, are an issue and seeing a shift in improvements can be more challenging.

‘And we do know that there are middle-aged Islanders who are making changes to their lifestyles and the message is to carry on – even small changes over the longer term can make a real difference.’

He added that in other countries around the world obesity was on the rise so Jersey’s middle-aged statistics, which show little change over the decade, should be seen positively.

Research by Public Health England, for example, shows that in the UK in the past decade there has been an increase in the percentage of obese middle-aged men and women, and in the proportion of people aged 40 to 59 living with chronic conditions.

In contrast to Jersey, however, smoking and drinking among middle-aged people in the UK has reduced.

On the hazardous-drinking figures, he said: ‘It is a big issue and a big concern. Having said that, we are seeing some encouraging changes in the trends more generally, with drinking levels per capita declining. That means as a whole Island population we are drinking less than we were in the past.

‘There are actions we are looking to support going forward and there is a commitment already in the licensing strategy to look at pricing.’

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