§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin)Mortality figures for the United Kingdom veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict from 1 April 1991 to 31 December 2002 were published on 27 January 2003,Official Report, columns 28-30WS. The latest data, as at 30 June 2003, are shown in Table 1 below. As before, the data for Gulf veterans are compared to that of a control group, known as the Era cohort, which is made up of Armed Forces personnel of a similar size, age, gender, Service, regular/reservist status and rank who were not deployed. Table 2 provides a detailed breakdown of deaths from cancer (neoplasm) by anatomical site.
On 23 July 2002,Official Report, column 910W, it was announced that the Ministry of Defence was discussing with the University of Manchester a detailed study of the factors underlying the figures for road traffic accident deaths. There are indications that the excess of motor vehicle accident deaths among Gulf veterans occurred principally during the first six years after the cessation of hostilities (to 31 March 1997) and that this trend has reversed in the following six years to 31 March 2003. Furthermore, the numbers of incidents are relatively small, the information on each accident is insufficiently detailed to allow meaningful analysis and a considerable amount of time has elapsed since 1 April 1991. Therefore, following the advice of the experts that have been consulted, we have decided not to commission the proposed study.
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Table 1 Deaths to UK Gulf veterans (Note: 1) 1 April 1991 to 30 June 2003 Causes (coded to ICD-9) (Note: 2) ICD Chapter Cause of death Gulf Era3 Mortality Rate Ratio4 All deaths 600 613 0.97 All cause coded deaths 586 599 0.97 I-XVI Disease-related causes 243 300 0.81 I Infectious and parasitic diseases 4 2 1.99 II Cancers 105 124 0.84 III Endocrine and immune disorders 1 6 0.20 V Mental orders 13 15 0.86 VI Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs (Note 5) 10 11 0.90 VII Diseases of the circulatory system 82 106 0.77 VIII Diseases of the respiratory system 11 6 1.82 IX Diseases of the digestive system 15 18 0.83 IV, X-XVI All other disease-related causes (Note 6) 2 12 0.17 EXVII External causes of injury and poisoning 343 299 1.14
ICD Chapter Cause of death Gulf Era3 Mortality Rate Ratio4 Railway accidents 4 1 3.98 Motor vehicle accidents 118 100 1.17 Water transport accidents 5 1 4.98 Air and space accidents 25 19 1.31 Other vehicle accidents 0 1 0.00 Accidental poisoning 14 15 0.93 Accidental falls 8 8 1.00 Accidents due to fire/flames 0 2 0.00 Accidents due to natural environmental factors 2 2 1.00 Accidents due to submersion/suffocation/foreign bodies 17 7 2.42 Other accidents 31 29 1.06 Late effects of accident/injury 0 2 0.00 Suicide and injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted 110 103 1.06 Homicide 6 5 1.19 Injury resulting from the operations of war 3 4 0.75 Other deaths for which coded cause data are not yet available 11 10 Overseas deaths for which cause data are not available 3 4 Notes:
- 1. Service and Ex-Service personnel only.
- 2. World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases 9th revision, 1997.
- 3. The Era group comprises 53,143 personnel, randomly sampled from all UK Armed Forces personnel in service on 1 January 1991 and who did not deploy to the Gulf. This group is matched to the 53,409 Gulf veterans to reflect the socio-demographic and military composition of the Gulf cohort in terms of age, gender, Service (Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force), officer/other rank status, regular/reservist status, and a proxy measure for fitness.
- 4. Mortality rate ratios differ marginally from the crude deaths ratio owing to some small differences between the Gulf and Era cohorts.
- 5. These figures include four deaths from Motor Neurone Disease amongst the Gulf cohort and three in the Era group.
- 6. Includes cases with insufficient information on the death certificate to provide a known cause of death.
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Table 2 Deaths due to neoplasms among UK veterans: 1 April to 30 June 2003 ICD 9 Site Gulf Era 140–239 All neoplasms 105 124 140–149 Malignant neoplasm of lip, oral cavity and pharynx 6 4 150–159 Malignant neoplasm of digestive organs and peritoneum 22 30 160–165 Malignant neoplasm of respiratory and intrathoracic organs 17 25
ICD 9 Site Gulf Era 170–175 Malignant neoplasm of bone, connective tissue, skin and breast 14 13 179–189 Malignant neoplasm of genitourinary organs 3 7 190–199 Malignant neoplasm of other and unspecified site 21 29 200–208 Malignant neoplasm of lymphatic and haematopoietic tissue 19 14 239 Unspecified nature 3 2