§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state the average increase in deaths of people between ages 65 and 75 years in periods of acute cold weather.
§ Mr. DeakinsOnly limited information is immediately available to link deaths of old people with specific periods of acute cold weather. There is a regular seasonal pattern of increased mortality in winter compared with summer, but there are many factors which contribute to this, and in some winters influenza epidemics increase the death rate. Over a 10-year period which included three epidemics, the average daily number of deaths of persons aged 65 to 74 in England and Wales was 423. Averages for the months of December and January were 503 and 526, respectively. In the winter of 1962–396W 63—the latest period of prolonged acute cold—it is estimated that there were nearly 16 per cent. more deaths from all causes during the first quarter of 1963 compared with the average of the corresponding quarters in 1960 to 1962.
§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what percentage of people over 65 years are estimated to live in rooms with air temperatures of less than 60.8°F.
(2) what percentage of people over 65 years are estimated to live in rooms with a temperature of less than 70°F.
§ Mr. DeakinsInformation in the form requested is not available centrally. However, a recent survey of the elderly living at home carried out in February 1976 by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, and to be published shortly, asked respondents in England whether they were warm enough in particular rooms of their house. The answers to this subjective question indicate that between nearly 8 per cent. and 12 per cent. of the respondents were not warm enough all the time in winter.
§ Mr. McCrindleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what studies his Department have undertaken into deficiencies of vitamins B, C and D among people over 65 years.
§ Mr. DeakinsNutritional surveys on men and women over 65 living in six different areas in England and Scotland were carried out by my Department in 1967–68—Reports on Health and Social Subjects No. 3: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1972—and in 1972–73; this report is in course of preparation. The latter survey was a follow-up of those in the earlier one who were alive and could be traced. The surveys, which included an assessment of vitamin status, found no evidence of a general vitamin deficiency, but there were a few cases of vitamin C and D deficiency, mostly occurring in persons suffering from medical conditions.
A larger nutrition study of the elderly was undertaken in 1973–74; the results of this are still being analysed.