§ Ms McCaffertyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many death certificates were issued for each of the years 1990 to 1999 which mention(a) cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, (b) extrinsic allergic alveolitis and (c) asbestosis. [139303]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Ms Chris McCafferty, dated 20 November 2000:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the number of death certificates issued for 1990 and 1999 which mention cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis and asbestosis. (139303)
Since 1993, all conditions mentioned on the death certificates have been coded routinely and figures requested for those years are presented in the attached table.
In earlier years, while the underlying cause of death was routinely coded only a selection of the other causes mentioned in the death certificate were identified for coding purposes. Asbestosis was identified in this way but alveolitis was not separately identified. For 1990, 1991 and 1992 the number of certificates mentioning asbestosis was 155, 135 and 148 respectively. These figures are however not comparable with those for later years because of the different methods used.
Mentions of asbestosis, extrinsic allergic alveolitis and cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis, England and Wales 1993–99 Cause of death and ICD91 code Extrinsic allergic alveolitis (ICD 495) Asbestosis (ICD 501) Idiopathic fibrosing alveolitis (ICD 516.3) 1993 36 293 1,348 1994 34 265 1,322 1995 43 207 1,376 1996 25 260 1,414 1997 26 224 1,521 1998 29 186 1,558 1999 36 211 1,633 1 Deaths are classified according to the WHO International Classification of Disease Ninth Edition. Note:
The terminology used in the table follows that in the WHO volume