Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 11 Nov 1999

Vol. 510 No. 5

Written Answers. - Smoking Related Illness.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

140 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of people suffering from a smoking related illness; the number of doctor and hospital visits and admittances which these smoking related illness are responsible for; the number of people who died over the past five years due to smoking related illness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23016/99]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Cowen):

Consumption of tobacco increases the risk of morbidity and mortality from a wide range of illnesses. These include cancers, diseases of the heart and circulatory system, and respiratory conditions. As these are not notifiable diseases, information on the number of visits to general practitioners is not available. Data on hospital discharges are collected through the hospital in-patient inquiry system which covers all publicly funded acute hospitals and mortality data are collected by the Central Statistics Office. Table 1 below sets out statistics for 1998 showing the number of hospital discharges for conditions regarded as smoking related. The number of deaths for the same conditions are provided in table 2 for the years 1994 to 1998. Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of these figures since they include all hospitalisations and deaths from the specified illnesses irrespective of whether or not they were due to smoking.

In the publication "Mortality from Smoking in Developed Countries 1950-2000" by Richard Peto and others it is estimated that in 1995, 20 per cent of all deaths in Ireland could be attributed to smoking. Similar proportions are not available for morbidity, and it is therefore not possible to estimate with any precision the share of hospitalisations for smoking related illnesses which are due either directly or indirectly to smoking.

Table 1

Number of Discharges from Publicly Funded Acute Hospitals for Conditions Regarded as Smoking Related, 1998

Condition	Number ofDischarges
Ischaemic Heart Disease	17,856
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease	15,288
Cerebrovascular Disease	9,108
Arterial Disease	3,596
Cancer of Trachea, Bronchus and Lung	2,681
Upper Aero-Digestive Cancer†	1,666
Cancer of Pancreas	526
Hypertensive Disease	2,315
Gastric, Duodenal and Peptic Ulcers	1,935
Cancer of Bladder and Kidney	1,617
Disease of Pulmonary Circulation	958
Total	57,546

†Includes Cancers of Mouth, Oesophagus, Pharynx and Larynx.

Source: Hospital In-Patient Enquiry (HIPE) System.

Table 2

Number of Deaths due to Conditions Regarded as Smoking Related, 1994 to 1998

Condition	1994	1995	1996	1997*	1998*
Ischaemic Heart Disease	7,809	7,926	7,601	7,359	7,218
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease	1,847	2,008	1,887	2,003	1,926
Cerebrovascular Disease	2,886	2,892	2,901	2,759	2,580
Arterial Disease	851	808	741	746	714
Cancer of Trachea, Bronchus and Lung	1,550	1,574	1,469	1,394	1,526
Upper Aero-Digestive Cancer†	517	478	505	521	479
Cancer of Pancreas	367	348	336	364	383
Hypertensive Disease	201	210	202	209	257
Gastric, Duodenal and Peptic Ulcers	203	179	157	198	160
Cancer of Bladder and Kidney	307	275	300	347	291
Disease of Pulmonary Circulation	68	92	66	61	41
Total	16,606	16,790	16,165	15,961	15,575

*Provisional figures based on year of registration.

†Includes Cancers of Mouth, Oesophagus, Pharynx and Larynx.

Source: Central Statistics Office.