Local authorities in the South and West of England have some of the best health outcomes in the country, according to recent research carried out between The MJ and Local Futures.

This is the second focus of a three part research project which shows for the first time how all 324 local authorities in England are performing when it comes to tackling health inequalities in their areas.

Most health data focuses on health conditions, such as mortality rates and other factors that affect health outcomes.  But this new analysis looks also at the determinants of ill health, such as deprivation and housing conditions, assessing the scale of economic, social and environmental determinants within an area.

By comparing performance on the two measures, the research helps identify the extent to which local authority areas are performing, in outcome terms, above (or below) what would be expected, based on their determinants score.

While the previous focus examined some of the main determinants of ill-health, at a local authority district level, this second focus looks at key health outcomes, presenting our findings in two sections.

Healthy Lifestyles looks at the propensity of different behaviours, reflecting the choices we make about how we live our lives.  There are seven measures used in total and examples include sports participation, smoking , drinking and under-age pregnancy.

Health Conditions looks more at the outcome side, at what are often consequences of certain lifestyle choices.

There are 10 measures used in total including average life expectancy, cancer mortality and infant mortality.