Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 8 December 2014 to Question 216645, whether the data requested is available in another format.

The Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database uses the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) method of recording diseases and diagnoses. The term cardiovascular disease (CVD) is too broad to be used in this classification system.

Definitions of CVD vary, but the World Health Organization (WHO) defines cardiovascular diseases as a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels which include:

- coronary heart disease: disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle;

- cerebrovascular disease: disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain;

- peripheral arterial disease: disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs;

- rheumatic heart disease: damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria;

- congenital heart disease: malformations of heart structure existing at birth; and

- deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism: blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.

Data recorded on the HES database is available for coronary heart disease, stroke,

diabetes related peripheral vascular disease, deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Data may also be available for some of the other diseases included in the WHO’s definition of CVD.