Written question asked by Paul Flynn (Labour) on Thursday, 2 April 1998, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 29 April 1998. It was answered by Sam Galbraith (Labour) on Wednesday, 29 April 1998 on behalf of the Scottish Office.

Scottish Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many deaths of people aged over 60 years in Scotland resulted from (a) over-medication, (b) suicide and (c) other misuse of medicinal drugs in each of the past 10 years. - Includes table. (Holding answer 8 April 1998).

Answer: Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many deaths of people aged over 60 years in Scotland resulted from (a) over-medication, (b) suicide and (c) other misuse of medicinal drugs in each of the past 10 years. [38352] Mr. Galbraith: [holding answer 8 April 1998]: The information available is given in the table. Deaths to persons aged 60 years and over, Scotland: selected causes _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 (a) Accidental poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances 2 1 2 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 (b) Suicide and self-inflicted poisoning (and poisoning undetermined whether accidentally or purposely inflicted) by drug or medicament 64 41 52 48 38 45 45 49 39 45 (c) Drug dependence and nondependent abuse of drugs 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. ICD codes: (a) E850-E858 (b) E950.0-E950.5, E980.0-E980.5 (c) 304, 305.2-305.9 Cause of death is classified under the Ninth Revision of the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death (ICD). There is no agreed definition of medicinal drugs, and deaths resulting from drugs are classified to the ICD categories given above irrespective of how the drugs were obtained or the purpose for which they were used.

Secondary information