HC Deb 04 February 2004 vol 417 cc932-3W
Tim Loughton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the main cause of death in children aged under 15 years was in 2003. [152564]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Tim Loughton, dated 4 February 2004: As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the main cause of death in children aged under 15 was in 2003. (152564) The latest year for which data are available is 2002. The attached table shows the percentage of deaths by major causes of death and age groups in children aged under 15.

Percentage of deaths by age-group for main causes of death1, England and Wales, 20022
Cause of death All ages under 15 Under 1 1–4 5–14
Infectious and parasitic diseases 6.1 6.5 9.4 3.3
Neoplasms 13.5 1.5 16.2 26.4
Blood and blood-forming organs 1.4 1.3 1.5 1.5
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic disorders 4.8 2.8 7.1 5.8
Mental disorders 0.5 0.0 0.0 1.5
Nervous system 10.7 8.6 11.4 12.8
Circulatory system 4.7 4.0 5.1 5.3
Respiratory system 6.7 6.5 6.4 7.2
Digestive system 3.1 2.8 3.8 2.9
Pregnancy and childbirth 8.6 19.8 1.3 0.0
Congenital malformations 15.4 20.5 17.6 7.8
Signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions 9.4 19.6 3.4 1.0
External causes of death 14.3 5.3 16.3 23.9
Other causes 0.8 0.9 0.5 0.7
Number of deaths 2,377 1,001 551 825
1.The causes of death were selected using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes. The cause groups presented are entire chapters from the ICD-10 classification, as follows:
Infectious and parasitic diseases—AOO-B99;
Neoplasms—COO-D48;
Blood and blood-forming organs—D50-D89;
Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic disorders—EOO-E90;
Mental disorders—FOO-F99;
Nervous system—GOO-G99;
Circulatory system—100–199;
Respiratory system—JOO-J99;
Digestive system—KOO-K93;
Pregnancy and childbirth—OOO-O99;
Congenital malformations—QOO-Q99;
Signs, symptoms and ill-defined conditions—ROO-R99;
External causes of death—V01-Y89
2 Figures are for the number of deaths occurring in the calendar year

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