Two-minute train ride – but men who live near a train station die ten years earlier

Shocking figures have shown that life expectancy for men drops by a decade between two stations just minutes apart on the same line. A report by Birmingham’s director of public health put the average life expectancy of men living near Chester Road station, close to Walmley and Sutton Coldfield, at 83 years.

But just one stop on the Cross-City line, a whole decade has been shaved off for men living near Erdington station – a journey that takes just two minutes from Chester Road. Life expectancy near Erdington was 73 years, which was also significantly lower than the England average of around 79 years for males.

Continuing on the same line past Erdington and into Birmingham city centre, the picture remains grim. Male life expectancy at Aston and Duddeston was just 72, while it rose to 77 at Gravelly Hill.

READ MORE: Vulnerable older teenagers to bear Birmingham City Council cuts as parents say: ‘Pay more’

But in the opposite direction, after Chester Road and at stations closer to Sutton Coldfield, the figures improved dramatically. Life expectancy at stations such as Wylde Green, Four Oaks and Sutton Coldfield itself, all also on the Cross-City line, varied from 82 to 84.

The report, which explored changes between the 2011 and 2021 census in Birmingham, was carried out by director of public health, Dr Justin Varney. At a city council cabinet meeting this week, he told councilors Birmingham’s life expectancy was “declining faster” than the rest of the country.

“When we look at what’s causing the decline in life expectancy and why we’re different, part of that is Covid,” he continued. “We have been hit harder by Covid because of our basic health position in the city.

“But then a lot of it is about heart disease. These are preventable diseases caused by inactivity, smoking and diet.”

He said the city needs to focus on residents who haven’t heard previous messages about an active lifestyle, as well as those struggling with smoking addiction. “We need to improve our cultural competence in how we talk to people and understand them,” he said.

“We think about things like physical activity, we’re talking about all adults doing 150 minutes of moderate physical activity every week. Moderate is a deeply white British word – most of us would struggle to articulate what moderate is, what does it mean to do 150 minutes of moderate activity?

“So we have more to do, but the top headline is that it’s heart disease that’s creating the gap in Birmingham in particular.” Rob Pocock, the council’s cabinet member for health, pointed the finger at austerity, saying: “We can’t run. from the implications of years of austerity in having an effect that is now being seen.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said it was committed to “closing the healthy life expectancy gap” by 2030 and increasing healthy life expectancy by five years by 2035. Our Major Conditions Strategy will explore how we can tackle key health factors in England to improve healthy life expectancy and our ambitious plans for a smoke-free generation will make a big difference, with people in more deprived areas almost twice as likely to die from smoking “, they added.

Keep up to date with all the latest politics news with our politics newsletter. You can sign up for free here to receive stories straight to your inbox to read at a time convenient for you.