As John said: concentrating on extremes is not really helpful. The
methodology used to calculate life expectancy (at least the ones used by
ONS
[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_other/GSSMethodology_No_33.pdf] and the health observatories [http://www.sepho.org.uk/download.aspx?urlid=9847&urlt=1]) for such small areas introduces quite a few artefacts into the estimates. These predominantly manifest themselves in the form of over-estimates, because there is no upper bound placed on the length of survival in the final age group. I wrote a conference paper on this about a year ago which I hope to have published---you can read the conference proceedings version of it online [http://epc2010.princeton.edu/abstractViewer.aspx?submissionId=100690]. There probably is a real, substantive gap in life expectancy, but 16.8 years is most likely an over-estimate. A more conservative estimate would be provided by taking the inter-quartile range, or some other measure which drops the outliers.

As for smaller areas, well, we'd all love to have them, but much smaller
scale than the ward-level and the numbers become so tiny that it really
is an exercise in getting blood out of a stone. After all, "life
expectancy" is a property of populations, not individuals, so a
reasonable level of aggregation has to be maintained for the figures to
be meaningful.

I hope this is helpful information.

Best wishes,
Michael.

On Wed, 2010-11-10 at 08:56 +0000, Martin Rathfelder wrote:
> I know about these thank you.  What I want are ward level stats. Or
> smaller, I suppose, but the small area stats I have seen were very
> difficult to use because they didn't relate to any identifiable places.
>
> On 10/11/10 08:39, Potter, Lesley wrote:
> > http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=8841
> >
> > There is a collection of resources on life expectancy here, produced by
> > the Office for National Statistics,
> > Hope this is helpful,
> > Lesley
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > On Behalf Of Martin Rathfelder
> > Sent: 10 November 2010 08:32
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Health inequality:
> >
> > There is, according to the local PCT, a 16.8 year gap in life expectancy
> >
> > experienced by female residents who live in the Macclesfield Town
> > Tytherington area compared to those living in Crewe's Central and Valley
> >
> > area
> >
> > This sort of local inforamtion is very useful politically.  Does anyone
> > know of, or is anyone capable of producing, a convenient useful source
> > of such stuff?  Ideally showing the most extreme disparities in close
> > proximity.
> >
> > I presume that the smaller the areas the greater the disparities.  The
> > DPH in Huddersfield used to produce some good graphs showing the
> > contrasts between the two sides of the same road.
> >
> > Martin Rathfelder
> > Director
> > Socialist Health Association
> > 22 Blair Road
> > Manchester
> > M16 8NS
> > 0161 286 1926
> > www.sochealth.co.uk
> >
> > If you do not wish to be on our mailing list please let us know and we
> > will remove you
> >
> > ******************************************************
> > Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
> > message will go only to the sender of this message.
> > If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
> > 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
> > to [log in to unmask].
> > Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender
> > and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by
> > subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about
> > Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past
> > issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site
> > www.radstats.org.uk.
> > *******************************************************
> >
> > Visit the Milton Keynes Council web site at http://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk
> >
> > Please consider the environment and don't print this email unless you really need to
> >
> > **** This email and any attachments hereto are strictly confidential and intended solely for the addressee.  It may contain information which is privileged.  If you are not the intended addressee, you must not disclose, forward, copy or take any action in reliance of this email or attachments.  If you have received this email in error, please delete it and notify us as soon as possible.
> >
> > The anti-virus software used by Milton Keynes Council is updated regularly in an effort to minimise the possibility of viruses infecting our systems. However, you should be aware that there is no absolute guarantee that any files attached to this email are virus free.****
> >
> >
> > ******************************************************
> > Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
> > message will go only to the sender of this message.
> > If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
> > 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
> > to [log in to unmask].
> > Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
> > *******************************************************
> >
>
> --
> Martin Rathfelder
> Director
> Socialist Health Association
> 22 Blair Road
> Manchester
> M16 8NS
> 0161 286 1926
> www.sochealth.co.uk
>
> If you do not wish to be on our mailing list please let us know and we will remove you
>
> ******************************************************
> Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
> message will go only to the sender of this message.
> If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
> 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
> to [log in to unmask].
> Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
> *******************************************************

******************************************************
Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your
message will go only to the sender of this message.
If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's
'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically
to [log in to unmask].
Disclaimer: The messages sent to this list are the views of the sender and cannot be assumed to be representative of the range of views held by subscribers to the Radical Statistics Group. To find out more about Radical Statistics and its aims and activities and read current and past issues of our newsletter you are invited to visit our web site www.radstats.org.uk.
*******************************************************