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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for how many (a) women and (b) men alcohol was found to be the primary cause of death in each year since 1997, broken down by age group. [221245] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply. Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Amess, dated 14 March 2005: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking for how many (a) women and (b) men alcohol was found to be the primary cause of death in each year since 1997, broken down by age group. (221245) The latest year for which figures are available is 2003. The attached table shows the number of deaths by sex and age group that were certified as due to alcohol abuse, dependence and poisoning, and diseases directly related to alcohol use from 1997 to 2003. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) definition of alcohol- related deaths only includes those causes regarded as being most directly due to alcohol consumption. Apart from deaths due to accidental poisoning with alcohol, this definition excludes external causes of death, such as road traffic deaths and other accidents, and alcohol-related suicides and homicides. Estimates of the annual total number of deaths in which alcohol has played a role can therefore vary widely depending on the criteria used. The definition used by ONS allows for consistent comparisons over time for those deaths where a clear association with alcohol consumption can generally be assumed. Number of deaths from alcohol-related causes1, for (a) women and (b) men by age group, England and Wales, 1997 to 2003 2 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Calendar year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 (a) Women Under 15 4 4 1 1 0 0 0 15-44 283 307 381 373 351 397 412 45-64 822 911 938 973 1,066 1,044 1,122 65-84 682 687 661 684 677 695 691 85 and over 68 57 72 57 76 82 74 (b) Men Under 15 3 1 1 1 0 1 1 15-44 619 726 698 714 111 768 842 45-64 1,572 1,694 1,852 1,954 2,066 2,040 2,380 65-84 808 848 846 812 894 941 1,008 85 and over 38 46 55 45 63 65 50 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 For the years 1997-2000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The codes selected to define alcohol-related deaths are listed as follows: 291--Alcoholic psychoses 303--Alcohol dependence syndrome 305.0--Non-dependent abuse of alcohol 425.5--Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 571--Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis E860--Accidental poisoning by alcohol For the years 2001-2003 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were selected: F10--Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol 142.6--Alcoholic cardiomyopathy K70--Alcoholic liver disease K73--Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified K74--Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver X45--Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in: Baker A. and Rooney C. (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp 5-14. 2 Data are for occurrences of death in each calendar year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c78W;432 c75-6W; 221245

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Alcoholic drinks Death Age Women Misuse Men

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk