§ Mr. WeirTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in the United Kingdom by nation and region, are diagnosed as having Lou Gehrig's disease; and what percentage of these are veterans of the Gulf War in the last year for which figures are available. [23207]
§ Jacqui Smith[pursuant to her reply, 14 January 2002, c. 65–66]:I regret that my previous reply was incorrect.
Lou Gehrig's disease is classified as Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in this country and there are between 5.000 and 6,000 sufferers of MND in the UK. Worldwide, the annual incidence of MND is estimated to be 1.5 new cases per 100,000 people. To date, the Ministry of Defence is aware of four veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict who have been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, three of whom have died. The table shows the hospital admission figures for motor neurone disease in 2000–2001.
417W
Admissions for motor neurone disease by region of residence Nhs Hospitals, England 2000–01 Number Northern and Yorkshire Regional Office 396 Trent Regional Office 330 West Midlands Regional Office 169
Admissions for motor neurone disease by region of residence Nhs Hospitals, England 2000–01 Number North West Regional Office 320 Eastern Regional Office 347 London Regional Office 269 South East Regional Office 359 South West Regional Office 295 England(NOS) 1 Scotland 2 Wales 16 Foreign 6 Not known 4 Total 2,514