§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many sudden infant deaths have been in each year since 1964; and if he will express these as a proportion of all infant deaths in each year.
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§ Mr. WhitneyThe term "sudden infant death syndrome" was not widely used before about 1971. In 1971, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys introduced a special code to identify these sudden infant deaths also known as "cot deaths". Data before 1971 would therefore not be reliable, and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
The available information is given in the table. The figures relate to deaths of children under one year of age registered in England and Wales, where the term "sudden unexpected death in infancy" or "cot death" or a similar term was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, regardless of whether it did or did not appear as the underlying cause of death. Infant deaths which may have been sudden and unexpected, but where no mention of "sudden" or "cot" death was made on the death certificate, cannot reliably be separately identified.
Sudden infant deaths: Numbers of mentions and as a percentage of all deaths under one year of age England and Wales 1971–1984 Year Number of sudden infant death mentions Percentage of all infant deaths 1971 489 3.56 1972 771 6.17 1973 922 8.08 1974 932 8.91 1975 912 9.61 1976 879 10.55 1977 911 11.62 1978 971 12.32 1979 1,079 13.19 1980 1,222 15.47 1981 1,265 18.02 1982 1,332 19.66 1983 1,315 20.61 1984 1,242 20.57 There is evidence that the use of the term sudden infant death has increased in recent years as a fashion of certification, rather than a reflection of increased frequency of this disease. This probably accounts for the rise in the number of mentions in the table. The percentage that these mentions form of all infant deaths has risen even more repidly due to the diminution in the number of deaths from other causes during the period 1971–1984.