§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of deaths and serious illnesses that resulted from the use of(a) antibiotics and (b) other medical drugs in each of the last five years. [12166]
928W
§ Mr. Horam[holding answer 30 January 1996]: Tables 1 to 3 show the number of people who have died as a result of using drugs, medicaments and biological substances in England and Wales in the last five years for which figures are available. Deaths are broken down into adverse effects in correct usage, accidental poisoning, suicides and undetermined deaths.
Table 4 shows the number of serious adverse reactions in patients taking antibiotics and other drugs reported by health professionals to the Committee on Safety of Medicines. A report does not necessarily mean the reaction was caused by the drug and the levels of reporting vary due to many factors, so comparisons of absolute numbers are not valid.
Table 1: Deaths in England and Wales due to drugs, medicaments and biological substances causing adverse effects in therapeutic use (ICD1 E930-E949) as underlying or secondary cause Antibiotics E930 Others E931–E949 1988 4 97 1989 7 104 1990 2 106 1991 4 80 1992 5 88 1International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision.
Table 2: Deaths in England and Wales due to accidental poisoning by drugs medicaments and biological substances (ICD1 E850–E858) Antibiotics E856 Others E850–E858 (excluding E856) 1988 0 329 1989 0 334 1990 0 402 1991 0 402 1992 0 498 1International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision.
Table 3: Deaths in England and Wales due to poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances (ICD1 960–979) Suicides and self-inflicted injury2 Injury undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted2 1988 915 609 1989 785 586 1990 816 544 1991 793 588 1992 874 596 1International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision. 2Antibiotics cannot be distinguished separately from other drugs.
Table 4: Serious adverse effects related to the use of antibiotics and all drugs in the UK and reported to the CSM1 Antibiotics All drugs (including antibiotics) 1991 819 8,816 1992 887 9,014 1993 777 8,397 1994 735 8,562 1995 723 9,094 1Serious means fatal, life threatening, requiring or prolonging hospitalisation, disabling, cancer, congenital abnormality or overdose.