People in Wales were more likely to report longstanding illness than those in Scotland or England, a difference which was statistically significant for males but not for females.

• Among males, 38% of those living in Wales reported a longstanding illness compared with 33% in Scotland and 31% in England.

In terms of Government Office Regions, people in London had the lowest incidence of longstanding illness (25% compared with 29-36% for other regions). People in the North East had the highest incidence of limiting longstanding illness (25% compared with 15-21% for other regions) and were at the upper end of the range of reported restricted activity (17% compared with 12-15% for other regions). There were no statistically significant differences between regions in the restriction of activities due to sickness in the 2 weeks before interview. Similar results were found for NHS Regional Office areas which are shown in Table 7.11.