§ Simon HughesTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths in people over 60 in each year since 1997 in Greater London were due to(a) cancer, (b) coronary heart disease and (c) falls. [163072]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Simon Hughes, dated 22 March 2004:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths in people aged over 60 in each year since 1997 in Greater London were due to (a) cancer, (b) coronary heart disease and (c) falls. (163072)The latest year for which data are available is 2002. Figures for cancer, ischemic (otherwise known as coronary) heart disease and falls in persons aged 60 and over are shown in the attached table for each year from 1997 to 2002.The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1997 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for 2001 and 2002. The introduction of651WICD-10 has meant that the numbers of deaths from cancer in 2001 and 2002 are not completely comparable with those from previous years (see footnotes to table).1The cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) for the years 1997 to 2000, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) for 2001 and 2002. The codes used are listed below:
Number of deaths from (a) cancer, (b) ischemic heart disease, and (c) falls1in persons aged 60 and over, Greater London21997 to 20023 Calendar year (a) Cancer4 (b) Ischemic heart disease (c) Falls5 1997 12,947 11,536 150 1998 12,889 11,398 167 1999 12,328 10,955 163 2000 12,031 10,207 176 20014 12,257 9,641 139 20024 12,165 9,316 121 Cancer—ICD-9 140–208;/CD-70 C00-C97;
Ischemic heart disease—ICD-9 410–414; ICD-10120–125;
Falls—ICD-9 E880-E888 excluding E887; ICD-10 W00-W19.
2 Usual residents of London Government Office Region
3 Figures are based on deaths occurring in each calendar year.
4 The introduction of ICD-10 for coding cause of death in 2001 resulted in the number of deaths coded as cancer at all ages increasing by 2.5 per cent. for males and 2.2 per cent. for females. For this reason numbers are not completely comparable with those for years before this date. The effect of the introduction of ICD-10 is also known to vary by age and figures at age 60 and over should therefore be interpreted with caution. The effect of the change in classification in 2001 on deaths from cancer is described in a report published in May 2002.*
5 The data for falls for 1997 to 2000 exclude fractures of unspecified cause (ICD-9 E887), so data for these years are comparable to those for 2001 onwards. The effect of the change in classification in 2001 on deaths from falls is described in an article published in August 2003.**
* Office for National Statistics. Results of the ICD-10 bridge coding study, England and Wales, 1999. Health Statistics Quarterly 14 (2002), 75–83.
** Griffiths C and Rooney C. The effect of the introduction of ICD-10 on mortality from injury and poisoning in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 19 (2003), 10–21.