TRACY-ANN CARMICHAEL
Covid helped fuel an increase in winter deaths in Renfrewshire last year.
New figures show a 29 per cent rise in the Increased Winter Mortality Index for the area.
An additional 190 deaths occurred during the winter months - the joint sixth highest of Scotland’s local authority areas and well behind Glasgow on 430.
Older residents in Renfrewshire were hardest hit, with the majority of additional seasonal winter deaths - 70 in number amongst the 75 to 84 age group.
Some 50 additional deaths were recorded in both the 65 to 74 and 85 plus ranges, with a further 20 in the zero to 64 group.
The figures mean 43 per cent of the deaths on the National Records of Scotland’s books as part of the Increased Winter Mortality Index for Renfrewshire, were in the 75 to 84 category.
Winter months generally see more deaths than any other time of the year.
Figures for excess deaths are calculated by drawing an average from the number of deaths registered in the two non-winter periods of August to November and the following April to
July, compared with the difference in the ‘winter’ months between December and March.
A total of 23,370 deaths were registered in Scotland in the four months of winter in 2020/21 - a seasonal increase in mortality of 4,330 over the August to November figure.
It marks the second highest total in 30 years.
Coronavirus was the underlying cause in 2,850 of the nation’s additional deaths recorded last winter.
Other diseases with the largest seasonal increase in cause of death were dementia and Alzheimer’s and coronary heart disease both recorded an additional 210 deaths each.
Pete Whitehouse, director of Statistical Services at NRS, said: “These figures show again the significant impact Covid-19 had on Scotland last winter. Compared to the average of the previous five winters, the winter of 2020/21 saw a 10 per cent higher level of mortality, with the majority of additional deaths being due to Covid-19.”
Figures for excess winter deaths have been falling since the 1950s and 60s, where an average 5,200 additional seasonal deaths were recorded, to an average of 2,600 annually over the last decade.
The NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area saw a 22 per cent jump in seasonal deaths across all ages or 930 people, with the greatest majority - 30 per cent in the 75 to 84 age group.
A further 28 per cent of the Increased Winter Mortality Index deaths were amongst those aged 85 plus.
Data also shows that the board area has had one of the lowest seasonal increases in mortality rates over seven of the last 11 winters, alongside NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Lothian - with all three ranking below the Scottish average in the latest figures.
Areas with the highest average include Aberdeen
City, Perth and Kinross and Dundee.
The number of additional deaths has been higher amongst women than men in the last 30 years - attributed to the fact that females live longer and account for a larger proportion of the elderly.
NRS chiefs also report “no clear evidence of any consistent difference” in seasonal mortality increases between the most and least deprived parts of Scotland.