Mortality from nonmalignant respiratory diseases in Scotland between 1959 and 1983

Geographical associations were investigated between various demographic factors and mortality from nonmalignant respiratory diseases in Scottish communities. The standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, for pneumonia, and for other respiratory disease were calculated for all cities, large burghs, small burghs and landward areas of Scotland for the periods 1959-63 and 1969-73; for 1979-83 the SMRs calculated were for local government districts. The Poisson exact test was used to identify communities with significantly high or low SMRs. The geographical locations of the communities and their mortality records for some of these diseases are shown in a series of maps. Bronchitis was consistently high in communities northwest and east of Glasgow, but generally not in other industrial communities. For pneumonia and other respiratory disease the communities with high SMRs were largely confined to the industrial central belt. Of the demographic factors, domestic overcrowding correlated most strongly with respiratory disease. An urban-rural gradient for bronchitis and the other diseases persisted through the three time periods.