HC Deb 29 October 1993 vol 230 c842W
Mr. Blunkett

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list, for each year since 1975, the number of recorded deaths from hypothermia in(a) England and Wales and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole.

Mr. Sackville

The information for England and Wales is shown in the table. The information relating to Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.

Number of deaths (a) with hypothermia as the underlying cause of death and (b) with any mention of hypothermia on the death certificate, all ages, England and Wales, 1975–1992.
Year Underlying Cause Mentions
1975 25 511
1976 21 585
1977 14 613
1978 21 708
1979 435 863
1980 261 596
1981 276 685
1982 326 664
1983 221 538
1984 266 555
1985 440 827
1986 437 837
1987 269 559
1988 194 440
1989 166 372
1990 152 368
1991 249 534
1992 149 362

Note:

1 The figure for underlying cause between the years 1975–78 and 1979–92 are not comparable. This is due to the change from the 8th to the 9th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The 8th revision code is assigned to ICD 788.9 while the 9th revision code is assigned to ICDs 778.3 and 991.6.

2 For 1986 to 1992 neonatal deaths are included in the mentions but not for the underlying cause of death (neonatal deaths were not given an underlying cause of death from 1 January 1986 onwards).