PEOPLE in Wales are living longer, healthier lives – but there remain long-term threats to health, and inequalities that mean life expectancy is rising more slowly in deprived areas, says outgoing chief medical officer Dr Tony Jewell.

In his final annual report, Dr Jewell, who is retiring after six years in the role, highlights decreasing rates of death from cardiovascular disease and a decline in smoking rates among children and adults among reasons to be cheerful about the state of the nation’s health.

“Life expectancy has been increasing for the past two decades. Male life expectancy has increased to 77.6 years, narrowing the gap with female life expectancy (81.8 years), which is a significant improvement,” he said.

“Smoking rates among both men and women have declined significantly since the Seventies. Historically, men were more likely to smoke than women, but male smoking rates have been in decline for a longer period.

“However, for both sexes, smoking-related health risks remain a problem, and lung cancer mortality rates in women have risen over the past decade.

“Seventy per cent of smokers in Wales want to give up, and these figures show that our vision of a smoke-free society for Wales is the right one.

“Other lifestyle factors continue to pose a threat to health in the long term: low levels of physical activity, drinking more than the recommended units per week; and unhealthy eating habits.

Circulatory disease and cancer remain the biggest causes of death in Wales.”

Of the five Gwent local authority areas, only in Monmouthshire is life expectancy for men (80.2 years) above the Welsh average.

But three areas of Gwent – Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen – have life expectancy for women above or at the Welsh average.

Dr Jewell’s report states that for alcohol-related deaths, rates are three-and-ahalf times as high in the mostdeprived areas for men, and more than twice as high for women.

“Similarly, for deaths from respiratory disease and from smoking, rates in the most deprived areas are more than twice those in the least deprived areas,” he said.

● The chief medical officer’s annual report for 2012 can be found via the link.

Life expectancy in Gwent

● Men in Monmouthshire (80.2 years) can expect to live 4.3 years longer than those in neighbouring Blaenau Gwent (75.9 years), according to life expectancy figures for 2008-10.

● A similar gap exists between women’s life expectancy rates in these two areas, with the Monmouthshire rate 83.6 years compared to 79.7 in Blaenau Gwent.

● Life expectancy from birth is up in all five areas of Gwent for the period 2004-10, with a 1.7-year increase for women in Newport, to 82.4 years, the biggest in Wales.

● Male life expectancy in the city during that period, however, remained static at 76.7 years, Newport being among just three out of 22 local authority areas in Wales where the rate remained the same or fell.