Technical Report - Donegal Traveller's Project

All Ireland Traveller Health StudySpecifically considering cardiovascular risk factors, the excess burden of cardiovascular morbiditynoted is also reflected in an excess of cardiovascular risk factors seen in the Traveller group, ascompared with the SLAN 2002 medical card holders. For those Travellers who had their blood pressureand/or cholesterol checked in the last year, the number with a high level detected was overall higherthan the number within SLAN 2002 and 2007 who reported having a high reading checked (Table 255).However, with respect to the unscreened Traveller population, clearly the true prevalence ofthese conditions is not known.Table 254: Doctor-diagnosed illnesses, within the last 12 months, by comparative groupIllness Travellers (ROI) Travellers (NI) SLAN 2007 generalpopulationSLAN 2007SC 5-6 (n=3,445)Back condition 30.4% 25.2% 16.0% 22.1%Asthma 12.5% 25.7% 6.0% 8.9%Chronic bronchitis* 12.0% 9.4% 3.0% 5.9%Cancer 1.0% 0.3% 1.0% 2.8%Arthritis** 13.8% 13.2% 11.0%† 28.1%†Diabetes 6.1% 6.1% 3.0% 6.5%Angina 4.3% 2.1% 2.0% 5.6%Heart attack 2.3% 2.1%