§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people have died each year since 1974 to 1984 due to smoking-related diseases.
§ Mr. John Patten[pursuant to the reply, 20 November 1984, c. 127]: It is not possible to be precise. Most deaths associated with cigarette smoking arise from three diseases: lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and "heart attacks" due to obstruction of the arteries of the heart. However, the proportion of deaths attributable to smoking from each of these diseases varies. Furthermore, smoking is also implicated in certain other conditions where no estimate of the numbers of the deaths caused by smoking is available—for example, obstruction of the arteries of the lower limbs.
In 1983 the Royal College of Physicians in its Report "Health or Smoking?" estimated that at least 90 per cent. of deaths from lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and obstructive lung disease are attributable to smoking. The total number of deaths from the main conditions involved is given in the table.
England and Wales Year Malignant Neoplasm of Trachea bronchus and lung (ICD* 162) Bronchitis and emphysema (ICD 490–492) 1974 33,057 25,512 1975 32,886 24,898 1976 33,524 24,684 1977 33,979 22,125 1978 34,348 22,665 1979 34,760 21,627 1980 35,168 19,255 1981 34,727 17,530 1982 34,832 17,297 1983† 35,572 15,410 * ICD—International Classification of Diseases. † Figures for 1983 are provisional. In the same report the Royal College of Physicians also estimated that perhaps 20 per cent, of deaths due to obstruction of the arteries of the heart were related to smoking. The medical term for this condition is "Ischaemic Heart Disease", but it is nowadays very often referred to as "Coronary Heart Disease". The total number of deaths from this condition between 1974 and 1983 in England and Wales is as follows, but the proportion of these directly attributable to smoking is less certain as this is only one of a number of causes that give rise to obstruction of the arteries of the heart.
666W
Year Ischaemic Heart Disease (ICD 410–414) 1974 153,250 1975 154,412 1976 157,016 1977 155,813 1978 160,458 1979 155,647 1980 154,371 1981 155,196 1982 154,605 1983* 156,550 * Figures for 1983 are provisional. The Royal College of Physicians estimate of at least 100,000 smoking-related deaths in 1981 is based upon a total of 70,000 deaths from lung cancer, bronchitis and obstructive lung disease and 180,000 from coronary heart disease; that is, it encompasses conditions not included in the ICD categories, such as various other cancers, other vascular diseases, myocardial degeneration and so on.