Cot Deaths (Hansard, 17 April 1989)

§ Mrs. Clwyd
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the major causes of sudden infant death syndrome.

§ Mr. Freeman
I refer the hon. Member to the report of what I said during the Adjournment debate of 20 March at columns885–90.

§ Mr. Clwyd
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the research projects into cot deaths funded by his Department and their cost since 1979.

§ Mr. Freeman
A full list of research directly funded by the Department of Health since 1979 which may be relevant to cot deaths is not readily available. The Department did however fund a major study specifically into cot deaths, co-ordinated by Professor Knowelden of the medical care research unit at Sheffield university, for the period 1976 to 1985. The total cost, including sponsorship of a seminar to facilitate dissemination of the findings, was around £285,000.
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is the main agency through which the Government support biomedical and clinical research in the United Kingdom. The MRC receives its grant-in-aid from the Department of Education and Science. For current MRC reseairch relevant to cot deaths I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Mellon (Mr. Latham) on 20 February at columns 524–25.

§ Mr. Clwyd
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children have died in each year since 1979 from sudden infant death syndrome.

§ Mr. Freeman
The information is shown in the table, which gives the number of deaths registered at age under one year with any mention of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), cot death or similar term irrespective of whether or not it was assigned as underlying cause of death.

Number of deaths registered under one year of age with any mention of sudden infant death on the death certificate, England and Wales 1979–80¹

Year Number

Male Female Total

1979 637 442 1,079

1980 740 482 1,222

1981 755 510 1,265

1982 822 510 1,332

1983 827 488 1,315

1984 716 526 1,242

1985 787 514 1,301

1986 945 559 1,504

1987 918 610 1,528

¹1988 905 538 1,443

¹ Provisional, January—November.

Number of deaths registered under one year of age with any mention of sudden infant death on the death certificate, England and Wales 1979–80¹
Year	Number
	Male	Female	Total
1979	637	442	1,079
1980	740	482	1,222
1981	755	510	1,265
1982	822	510	1,332
1983	827	488	1,315
1984	716	526	1,242
1985	787	514	1,301
1986	945	559	1,504
1987	918	610	1,528
¹1988	905	538	1,443
¹ Provisional, January—November.