HC Deb 09 March 2004 vol 418 cc1481-2W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the death rates for end stage renal failure in(a) England and (b) other European countries; and if he will make a statement. [159783]

Ruth Kelly

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Paul Burstow, dated 9 March 2004:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on death rates for end-stage renal failure in England and other European countries. (159783)

Death rates for end-stage renal failure are not available as it is caused by a number of different diseases, including diabetes and infections, that damage the kidneys. Deaths will therefore be certified as due to one of these causes, so it is not possible to obtain reliable data on mortality from end-stage renal failure from the routine death registration system.

Age-standardised death rates for chronic renal failure, mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, are however available. These were 19.4 and 8.9 per 100,000 people for males and females respectively in England and Wales in 2002 (the latest year for which figures are available). Comparable figures are not readily available for other European countries.

Information on survival rates for patients receiving renal replacement therapy is available from the European Dialysis and Transplant Association (EDTA) Registry. Their website address is: http://www.era-edta.org/erafset.htm