“The Glasgow effect?”- The result of the geographical patterning of deprived areas?

The aim of this research was to examine whether the excess mortality found in Glasgow, compared to other cities in the UK (“Glasgow effect”), could be attributed to patterns of the distribution of deprived neighbourhoods within the cities. Data on mortality and deprivation at a neighbourhood scale were used to examine the impact of the patterning of neighbourhood deprivation on mortality in Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Analysis using a combination of GIS and statistical approaches, including a Moran׳s I test and Conditional Auto Regressive models to capture residual spatial autocorrelation, was carried out. The pattern of deprivation was found to be more dispersed in Glasgow compared to the other cities. The impact of surrounding deprivation at two different scales shows strong impact on neighbourhood health outcomes in Glasgow and Liverpool but not in Manchester, suggesting that patterning is not a major contribution to the excess mortality in Glasgow.