§ Mr. AmosTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is the current annual number of deaths in the United Kingdom attributed to(a) smoking, (b) alcohol and (c) illegal drug use; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Dorrell[holding answer 11 March 1991]: The available data are shown in the tables.
Table 1 shows the number of deaths registered in 1989 in the United Kingdom with an underlying cause of death stated as drug dependence or non-dependent abuse of drugs.
It is not possible from death registrations reliably to identify which of these deaths were due to the use of illegal drugs.
Table 1. Deaths from drug dependence and non-dependent abuse of drugs. Cause of death lCD code1 Number of deaths Drug dependence 304 191 Non-dependent abuse of drugs (excluding alcohol and tobacco) 305.2-305.9 54 Table 2 shows the number of deaths registered in 1989 in the United Kingdom assigned to underlying causes of death due to diseases associated with alcohol consumption. 561W
Table 2. Number of deaths associated with alcohol consumption Main diagnosis ICD code1 Number of deaths Alcoholic psychoses 291 13 Alcoholic dependence syndrome 303 273 Non-dependent abuse of alcohol 305.0 215 Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 425.5 112 Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, alcohol reported as a cause 571.0-571.3 1,573 Toxic effect of alcohol 980 130+ Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, alcohol not specifically reported as cause 571.4-571.9 1,947 1 International classification of diseases 9th revision. excludes Scotland—data not available. In addition, statistics collated by the Department of Transport indicate that in 1988 in Great Britain, there were 840 deaths and 5,650 serious injuries in road accidents involving illegal alcohol levels.
For smoking it is not possible to be precise. Most deaths associated with cigarette smoking arise from three diseases: lung cancer, chronic bronchitis and "heart attacks" due to obstructions of the arteries of the heart. However, the proportion of deaths attributable to smoking from each of these diseases varies. Furthermore, smoking is also implicated in certain other conditions where no estimate of the numbers of the deaths caused by smoking is available—for example, obstruction of the arteries of the lower limbs, and strokes.
It is estimated that at least 90 per cent. of deaths from lung cancer, and 90 per cent. of deaths from chronic bronchitis, obstructive lung disease, chronic pulmonary heart disease and aortic aneurysm are attributable to smoking. In addition cancers of the mouth, larynx and oesophagus have all been shown to be associated with smoking. The total number of deaths from these conditions involved is given in table 3.
Table 3. Number of deaths associated with smoking tobacco, 1989 Cause of death ICD code1 Number of deaths Malignant neoplasms Trachea, bronchus and lung 162 39,646 Lip, oral cavity and pharynx 140–149 1,969 Oesophagus 150 5,747 Larynx 161 986 Diseases of the ciculatory system: Chronic pulmonary heart disease 416 679 Aortic aneurysm 441 8,906 Diseases of the respiratory system: Bronchitis and emphysema 490–492 9,451 Chronic airways obstruction, not elsewhere classified 496 21,482 In 1983, the Royal College of Physicians in its report "Health or Smoking" estimated that perhaps 20 per cent. of deaths due to obstruction of the arteries of the heart were related to smoking; an extract is available in the Library. The medical term for this condition is "ischaemic heart disease", but it is commonly referred to as "coronary heart disease". The total number of deaths from this condition for the United Kingdom in 1989 is as follows:
Cause of death ICD code1 Number of deaths Ischaemic heart disease 410–414 173,409 1 International classification of diseases 9th revision.