Malnutrition
(asked on 23rd October 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many hospital admissions there were for (a) scurvy, (b) rickets, (c) vitamin D deficiency and (d) malnutrition in age groups (i) up to four, (ii) five to nine, (iii) 10-16 and (iv) over 17 years in (A) 2020/21 and (B) 2021/22.
The following tables show activity in National Health Service hospitals and NHS-commissioned activity in the independent sector in England, with a count of Finished Admission Episodes with a “primary” or “primary or secondary diagnosis” of scurvy, rickets, vitamin D deficiency and malnutrition by age group for 2020/21 and 2021/22:
2020/21 | Primary Diagnosis | |||
Patient Age (years) | Scurvy | Rickets | Vitamin D Deficiency | Malnutrition |
0-4 | 1 | 41 | 28 | 11 |
5-9 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 7 |
10-16 | 2 | 8 | 50 | 16 |
17 or over | 2 | 0 | 586 | 765 |
2020/21 | Primary or Secondary Diagnosis | |||
Patient Age (years) | Scurvy | Rickets | Vitamin D Deficiency | Malnutrition |
0-4 | 3 | 41 | 1,715 | 71 |
5-9 | 4 | 1 | 1,698 | 43 |
10-16 | 10 | 8 | 4,713 | 165 |
17 or over | 151 | 0 | 126,785 | 9,681 |
2021/22 | Primary Diagnosis | |||
Patient Age (years) | Scurvy | Rickets | Vitamin D Deficiency | Malnutrition |
0-4 | 2 | 41 | 64 | 14 |
5-9 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 11 |
10-16 | 4 | 3 | 91 | 15 |
17 or over | 3 | 1 | 863 | 843 |
2021/22 | Primary or Secondary Diagnosis | |||
Patient Age (years) | Scurvy | Rickets | Vitamin D Deficiency | Malnutrition |
0-4 | 5 | 41 | 2,054 | 73 |
5-9 | 17 | 8 | 1,810 | 67 |
10-16 | 29 | 3 | 6,022 | 140 |
17 or over | 144 | 1 | 167,169 | 10,242 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS England
The root causes of malnutrition may be clinical, for example disease-related, social and/or economic. These problems often interact in a complex cycle. Some health conditions can lead to malnutrition including eating disorders, although malnutrition itself is not an eating disorder.