This report analyzes provisional estimated figures for excess winter mortality (EWM) for the winter period 2007/2008, and final figures for the winter period 2006/2007 for deaths occurring in England ...and Wales. Historical trends in EWM are presented for people in England and Wales from 1950/1951 to 2007/2008. Figures by sex and age for the Government Office Regions of England, and Wales are presented for the five-year period 2003/2004 to 2007/2008, and by cause of death from 2004/2005 to 2006/2007. EWM is calculated by comparing the number of deaths occurring in winter with the number occurring in non-winter period. Previous analysis compared methods of calculating EWM using different winter and non-winter periods. In the four months of winter 2007/2008 there were an estimated 25,300 more deaths in England and Wales than in the non-winter period. This was more than in the previous winter, and similar to the winter of 2005/2006, but not as many as in the winter of 2004/2005.
Background The incidence of and mortality from alcohol-related conditions, liver disease and hepatocellular cancer (HCC) are increasing in the UK. We compared mortality rates by country of birth to ...explore potential inequalities and inform clinical and preventive care. Design Analysis of mortality for people aged 20 years and over using the 2001 Census data and death data from 1999 and 2001–2003. Setting England and Wales. Main outcome measures Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for alcohol-related deaths and HCC. Results Mortality from alcohol-related deaths (23 502 deaths) was particularly high for people born in Ireland (SMR for men M: 236, 95% confidence interval CI: 219–254; SMR for women F: 212, 95% CI: 191–235) and Scotland (SMR-M: 187, CI: 173–213; SMR-F 182, CI: 163–205) and men born in India (SMR-M: 161, CI: 144–181). Low alcohol-related mortality was found in women born in other countries and men born in Bangladesh, Middle East, West Africa, Pakistan, China and Hong Kong, and the West Indies. Similar mortality patterns were observed by country of birth for alcoholic liver disease and other liver diseases. Mortality from HCC (8266 deaths) was particularly high for people born in Bangladesh (SMR-M: 523, CI: 380–701; SMR-F: 319, CI: 146–605), China and Hong Kong (SMR-M: 492, CI: 168–667; SMR-F: 323, CI: 184–524), West Africa (SMR-M: 440, CI, 308–609; SMR-F: 319, CI: 165–557) and Pakistan (SMR-M: 216, CI: 113–287; SMR-F: 215, CI: 133–319). Conclusions These findings show persistent differences in mortality by country of birth for both alcohol-related and HCC deaths and have important clinical and public health implications. New policy, research and practical action are required to address these differences.
Abstract
The potential iron siderophore transporter genes have been determined from the genome sequence of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). One of these gene clusters, cdtABC, was disrupted and ...characterized to determine its role in the uptake of the siderophores produced by S. coelicolor. Resistance to the siderophore-like antibiotics, salmycin and albomycin, was tested in the parent and cdtABC mutant, showing that the parent, but not the mutant, was sensitive to salmycin, while both were resistant to albomycin. Ferrioxamine competition assays against salmycin suggest that the uptake of salmycin is via a ferrioxamine transport system. However, Fe-55 ferrioxamine B uptake experiments did not reveal any difference between the parent and mutant. This suggests that CdtABC specifically transports salmycin, while ferrioxamine uptake maybe substituted by another transport system.
This article examines the impact of the introduction of ICD-10 on respiratory disease mortality statistics in England and Wales, specifically focussing on pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory ...diseases, and influenza. The main changes are highlighted and the article explains how figures can be adjusted to take account of these changes so that trends over time can be analysed. The number of deaths assigned to the respiratory disease chapter of the ICD as a whole decreased by 22 per cent as a result of the introduction of ICD-10. Although it is not usually recommended that comparability ratios from the CD-10 bridge-coding study are used to adjust rates prior to 1993, our analysis shows that unadjusted data for 1984 to 1992 can be used to examine longer time trends for respiratory diseases as a whole.
Almost 6,000 people killed themselves in the UK in 2004. While suicide rates in the UK fell between 1991 and 2004 this decrease did not occur in all areas. Large disparities remain between suicide ...rates in the countries of the UK, and between regions and local areas. This article also presents inequalities in suicide rates by deprivation, and considers change over time, for men and women, and for different age groups.
This article examines how best to identify the leading causes of mortality in England an Wales, by using different way of grouping causes of death, based on a list developed by the World Health ...Organization (WHO). Four different versions of this list are compared. The leading cause of death across all age groups depends on the ways in which common diseases and external causes are aggregated or disaggregated into groups. Areas of particular debate, examined in this article, are the grouping or splitting of accidents by mechanism and cancers by site within leading cause lists. These affect which causes appear in the top ten, and their order in different age groups.
This article examines the impact of the introduction of ICD-10 on mortality from circulatory diseases in England and Wales. The article examines changes to specific types of circulatory disease, ...focussing on ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and cerebrovascular disease (stroke). The main changes are highlighted and the article explains how data can be adjusted to take account of these changes so that trends over time can be analysed. The article then looks at the impact of the changes on baselines for Government targets to reduce mortality from circulatory diseases. The number of deaths assigned to circulatory diseases increases by 3-4 per cent as a result of the introduction of ICD-10, replacing ICD-9. For cerebrovascular diseases specifically, the increase is 9 per cent for females and 13 per cent for males. Trends in mortality from IHD are unaffected by the introduction of ICD-10. However, the number of deaths assigned to acute myocardial infarction, which forms part of IHD, decreases by around 10 per cent when ICD-10 is used instead of ICD-9.
This article examines trends in suicide by marital status in England and Wales over the period 1982 to 2005. A protective effect of marriage has been observed in a number of previous studies and this ...article updates figures up to 2005. The article shows that despite changes in marriage patterns over the last 25 years, those who are married still have the lowest risk of suicide, and there has generally been no obvious decline in the difference in suicide rates between those who are married and those who are not.
PDF
