Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Thursday, 9 June 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 June 2005. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 20 June 2005 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Heart Disease (Children)

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have been treated for heart disease; how many have been screened for signs of heart defects; and how many children have died from heart-related conditions in each of the last five years.
Answer

Table 1 following shows numbers of admissions for cardiac conditions for children under 16 in England in the last five years for which data is available.

Table 1
Admissions
1999–2000 2,125
2000–01 2,089
2001–02 2,232
2002–03 2,312
2003–04 2,475
Source: Hospital episode statistics, Health and Social Care Information Centre. Figures are for cardiac conditions as a primary diagnosis. Patients may have more than one admission in a year.

No data is available on screening of children for signs of heart defects.Table 2 following shows the latest available data on child deaths from heart-related conditions. In this table, children are defined as those under 16 years old, including neonates.

Table 2
Deaths
1999 872
2000 781
2001 667
2002 621
2003 663
Source: Office of National Statistics mortality data. Figures are for all deaths in England and Wales where heart disease is mentioned in the death certificate and include congenital malformations.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
4466; 435 c792-3W;435 c796-7W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Children Death Heart diseases Screening
Contains statistics
Yes