asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state, for each year since 1970, the number of persons who have died where (a) hypothermia was the prime cause of death and (b) hypothermia was a contributory cause of death; and if he will also state the number of elderly persons he estimates to be suffering from hypothermia and also the number of elderly persons he estimates to be at risk of hypothermia.
The numbers of deaths in England and Wales where hypothermia was specified on the death certificate as the underlying cause, and the total numbers of deaths in all categories where hypothermia was mentioned on the death certificate, were as follows:
| (a) | (b) | ||
| Deaths with hypothermia as underlying cause | Total deaths with mention of hypothermia (including (a)) | ||
| 1970 | … | 16* | Not available |
| 1971 | … | 15 | 420 |
| 1972 | … | 20 | 492 |
| 1973 | … | 21 | 437 |
| 1974 | … | 16 | 401 |
| 1975 | … | 25 | 511 |
| 1976 | … | 21 | 585 |
| 1977 | … | 15 | 613 |
| 1978 | … | 21 | 708 |
| * Estimated figure. | |||
a) differ marginally from those quoted in an answer given on 12 February 1976—[Vol. 905, c. 319–20.]—because subsequent more detailed analyses have produced more precise figures.
I have no reason to believe that these data are unreliable and I have no other evidence on which to make estimates of the incidence of hypothermia.