A snapshot of the health of people living in the Bradford district reveals residents are less likely than average to be healthy eaters, but their smoking and drinking habits are similar to the average in England.

The information is contained in a health profile published today by the Department of Health and the Association of Public Health Observatories.

A profile has been published for every local authority and region across England for the second year in a bid to capture a picture of the nation’s health down to local level.

The profile contains 31 indicators, giving information on things such as deprivation, children in poverty, and education achievement to how people live, how long they live and their general health and well-being and life expectancy.

Bradford has a higher than average proportion of residents dependent on benefits (18.4 per cent compared to England average of 12.9 per cent) but the level of homeless households (2.8 per cent) is lower than the England average (7.8 per cent).

The percentage of children living in poverty is 28.6 per cent, significantly higher than the England average of 21.3 per cent and the percentage achieving five A to C GCSEs was 50.2 per cent compared to an England average of 57.5 per cent. Teenage pregnancies are also above average.

Residents in Bradford are less likely than average to be healthy eaters than average (20.9 per cent compared to 23.8 per cent average for England), but their smoking and drinking habits are estimated to be similar to average.

However, the city has above average death rates from smoking, cancer and heart disease and stroke among under 75s, although in the later case the gap has narrowed over recent years.

An above average proportion of residents are registered as having diabetes (4.4 per cent, compared to an average of 3.7 per cent) and other depressing results show the district has significantly higher than average levels of tooth decay in children, people misusing drugs, hospital stays due to alcohol, people with mental health or behavioural disorders, and infant deaths.

Improvement in female life expectancy has been slow (Bradford average is 79.6 compared to average 81.1 in England), and life expectancy for men is also below the England average (75.4 compared to 76.9 for England).

The profiles are designed to help local councils and NHS organisations target their resources to best effect.

The profile praises efforts already made such as the Infant Mortality Commission, set up to address high death rates of under ones and Bradford Council’s B active campaign.

Public health minister Dawn Primarolo said: “Inequalities around the country are stark, but the NHS and local authorities can use these profiles to target local health hotspots with effective measures to make a real difference.”

The profiles can be found online at healthprofiles.info