Work carried out by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and other experts showed that “other additional factors” may be responsible for the city’s high levels of mortality and poor health. The research, published in the Royal Society for Public Health’s journal Public Health, looked at Glasgow and two other major UK cities – Liverpool and Manchester.

Which together share characteristics such as higher levels of poverty and poor health. Despite the similarities, and that the socio-economic profiles of the populations in all three cities were almost identical, premature deaths in Glasgow are more than 30% higher than in the other cities.

The study findings suggest that while income deprivation is an important determinant of health, its impact is affected by context. Deprivation as currently measured did not explain the higher levels of mortality seen in Glasgow.

Carol Tannahill, director of the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, said: “Improving the population’s health is a major priority for Glasgow. Developing deeper insights into the causes of the city’s long-playing record of ill-health is an essential step towards turning that record around.”