The Earl of Munsterasked Her Majesty's Government:
To provide the figures available for the latest years for which information has been collated for the incidence of osteoporotic fractures secondary to steroid use.
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonThis information is not available. Data records on inpatient activity within NHS hospitals contain a primary diagnosis code which identifies the main condition treated or investigated. Additional data are available to record further details of a patient's condition (the 'secondary diagnoses', or a code relating to the cause of an accident or an incident of poisoning). Although there will often be a direct relationship between the primary and any secondary diagnosis, this cannot automatically he inferred. Hence, it is not possible from the data, to determine the number of fractures caused by osteoporosis and also attributable to steroid use.