For years, people have headed to the seaside in search of a healthy dose of sea air. But new research suggests it’s poverty, not the coast, that’s making communities ill.
Researchers from University College London and the University of Essex tracked the lives of over 28,000 people born in 1958 and 1970, following where they lived and how their health changed from childhood into middle age.
They found people living in coastal areas in their early 40s were 22% more likely to develop two or more long-term health conditions by their mid-50s than those living inland. However, when the academics took levels of deprivation into account, that gap disappeared.
The report found poorer health in seaside towns is being driven by poverty and by who is moving in and out. People who left coastal areas between the age of 16 and their early 40s were healthier than those who moved to live by the sea.
Among those born in 1958, 35% of people who moved to costal towns had multimorbidity – two or more long-term health conditions – by the age of 55, compared with 25% of those who moved away.
The study also found people moving to coastal areas were more likely to end up in deprived neighbourhoods. Lead author of the research, Professor Stephen Jivraj from UCL said: ‘This means that selective migration makes the composition of coastal areas unhealthier. The people who move to coastal areas are sicker compared with those who move away.’
Researchers noted that growing up by the coast does not, on its own, make people more likely to become ill.
Professor Jivraj added: ‘Population health in coastal areas is becoming worse, especially in coastal towns that are deprived. This is a result of people who grew up and stayed in coastal areas becoming more likely to develop multiple conditions from midlife, combined with the balance of selective migration concentrating ill health in these places.’
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