People living in Scotland who describe themselves as being of an ethnic minority have a longer life expectancy than those describing themselves as White Scottish, according to new research.

A study, carried out by the University of St Andrews, examined how different ethnic groups reported their health and contrasted this with actual death rates by linking Scottish Census 2001 data for 4.6 million people to mortality records.

The study found that it is not just younger individuals who expect to live longer, but ethnic minorities who live up to the age of 65 also expect to have a longer life than older people who identity as White Scottish individuals.

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However, despite having a longer life expectancy, not all ethnic minorities live longer in good health, with Indian and Pakistani populations having amongst the longest life expectancies in Scotland but also the highest number of years with poor health.

One of the starkest findings was that Pakistani women can expect to live 20.4 years in poor health on average compared to 8.7 years for White Scottish women.

The study authors said higher risk for specific diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and asthma could be part of the explanation for this high number of years in poor health while they have a lower risk of cancer which could explain longer life expectancy.

Previous studies do not suggest unequal access to GP services for minority ethnic groups, however available evidence both in England and Scotland suggests a more complex picture of "potential unequal access operating at different level of healthcare and healthcare settings."

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The information was collected by using information from the Census on self-assessed health, self-declared ethnicity and sex and found that males and females of the categories Other White British, Other White, Chinese origin and Indian males had longer healthy life expectances than those who categorised themselves as White Scottish.

Dr Genevieve Cezard, of the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, who led the study, said: “Policy makers should aim to improve the quality of life of Pakistani and Indian populations in Scotland and ensure that fair and culturally-adapted care is provided in primary and secondary settings while the root causes of this paradox are pinpointed and better understood.

“Further research should investigate the underlying mechanisms of the morbidity-mortality contrast observed and aim for a better characterisation of the diseases that drive a morbidity disadvantage but do not necessarily lead to worse survival rates.”