Welsh health inequality

Avoidable deaths are two to three times more likely in the poorest parts of Wales compared to the richest, the  Office for National Statistics (ONS) study found.  

"Avoidable deaths" are those which could have been prevented by "timely and effective healthcare" or "public health interventions".

Oxfam Cymru described the figures as a "harsh reminder" work was needed to tackle poverty.

The Bevan Foundation called the avoidable mortality rates a "tragedy". Director Victoria Winckler said: "The link between ill-health, mortality and low income is complicated, but the root cause is poverty and inequality.

Men living in the poorest areas of Wales had higher preventable mortality rates than women - with about 544 avoidable deaths per 100,000 compared with about 334 per 100,000.

In the most deprived areas, men were more than three times more likely to suffer an avoidable death compared to those in the least deprived, while the figure for women was 2.4 times more likely.

In Wales, there were 1,054 deaths from preventable causes in the nation's most deprived areas - compared with 509 deaths in the least deprived.

ONS statistician Dr Annie Campbell said: "The most-deprived populations in England and Wales are up to 7.7 times more likely to die from an avoidable respiratory disease than the least deprived. Smoking is the most likely contributory factor to these differences. However, it is in the cases of cardiovascular disease and cancer where the inequalities in mortality seen between more and less deprived areas can be most reduced overall. Narrowing the gaps in mortality for these diseases will have benefits for the largest number of people."