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Treasury;Office for National Statistics

Answer

Mr. Challen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many winter cold related deaths have been recorded in each year since 1997, broken down by country and region in the UK; and how many of these were attributed to hypothermia. [199698] Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply. Letter from Dennis Roberts to Mr. Colin Challen, dated 30 November 2004: The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many winter cold-related deaths have been recorded in each year since 1997, broken down by country and region in the UK; and how many of these were attributed to hypothermia. I am replying in his absence. (199698) Numbers of cold-related deaths are not available, as cold is not recorded as a cause of death in itself. ONS does however publish annual excess winter death figures. These are the excess number of deaths each winter compared to the average during other months of the year. These figures are not routinely calculated for the United Kingdom but results for England and Wales and Government Office Regions in England have been published for winters from 1991/1992 to 2003/2004. This report, "Excess Winter Mortality--By Age Group and Region" can be found on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=7089 For the period 1997 to 2003 (the latest year for which data are currently available) the annual total number of deaths where hypothermia was mentioned on the death certificate are presented in the attached table. Deaths with a mention of hypothermia1 on the death certificate, for the United Kingdom and constituent countries and Government Office Regions in England 2 1997 to 2003 3 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Country/Government Office 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Region United Kingdom 439 422 403 373 336 259 236 England 343 326 305 298 244 176 176 North East 11 18 8 15 8 10 5 North West 34 36 38 39 31 23 17 Yorkshire and The Humber 29 39 30 23 29 19 20 East Midlands 21 26 41 26 20 13 16 West Midlands 41 48 49 45 32 26 23 East of England 57 42 44 48 35 19 23 London 37 33 28 32 18 16 20 South East 59 54 42 49 39 31 33 South West 54 30 25 21 32 19 19 Wales 14 26 20 14 16 99 Scotland 60 48 66 49 60 61 43 Northern Ireland 22 22 12 12 16 14 8 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Deaths with a mention of hypothermia defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) code N991.6 for the years 1997 to 2000 and, for the years 2001 to 2003, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code T68. 2 Deaths of usual residents for these areas. 3 Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year for England and Wales and deaths registered in each calendar year for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

199698; 428 c88W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Death Weather Hypothermia

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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