Scottish Public Health Observatory quarterly update
September 2024

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides the Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) quarterly update on a number of topic areas. Of these topics, the Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) pages contain new data.

Main points

Asthma:

• The number of asthma-related hospital admissions rose between 2021/22 and 2022/23, following a sharp drop during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they remain below pre-pandemic levels. In 2022/23 76 per 100,000 population were admitted to hospital with asthma.
• Females are more likely than males to be hospitalised with asthma and have asthma as their underlying cause of death. In 2022, there were 73 (66%) female deaths and 38 (34%) male deaths from asthma.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD):

• The incidence of COPD in Scotland (measured using hospital admissions data and death records) dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest figures indicate that the rise observed in 2021/22 continued in 2022/23 for both females (112.4 cases per 100,000 population) and males (109.7 cases per 100,000 population); however, incidence across both sexes remains lower than prior to the pandemic.
• During 2022 the annual mortality rate from COPD for both males and females increased after a marked reduction during the pandemic, with rises of 9.0% and 10.9% for males and females respectively. Mortality in both sexes remains lower than prior to the pandemic.

The following topics on the ScotPHO website have also been updated as part of the September 2024 quarterly website update.

Health Conditions:

• Infections.
• Kidney Disease.

Population Groups:

• Children and Young People.

Risk Factors:

• Drugs.

Wider Determinants.

• Crime and Violence.

Background

The Scottish Public Health Observatory collaboration is led by PHS and includes the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, National Records of Scotland, the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit and the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory. The aim of the collaboration is to make public health information more accessible, to promote the reduction in inequalities and to inform health improvement in Scotland.

Further information

Data from this publication are available from the publication page of the ScotPHO website. 

The next release of these statistics will be 17 December 2024.