AGE Concern explains why pensioners are so vulnerable to the cold...

A spokesman for the charity said: “Spending too long in the cold will lower the body temperature which can often aggravate circulatory diseases‚ which can lead to strokes, heart attacks and respiratory illnesses such as bronchitis or pneumonia.

“It is very unusual for the cold to kill people directly.

"In the main these deaths are from respiratory or cardio-vascular ailments.”

Medics at the Royal Blackburn Hospital and Burnley General Hospital said there had been a 30 per cent increase in the number of elderly people dying from respiratory disease, up from 29 the previous year.

Dr Geraint Jones, medical director for clinical services at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Extreme cold weather such as we have experienced this winter can also lead to an increase in pneumonia which is a leading cause of death among older people. However it is extremely important to note this is an unfortunate consequence of extremely cold weather and an aging population.

“Having looked at the data we can see the average age at death is higher – 82 years now compared with 75 a year ago – so one of the reasons for this increase is that we are dealing with a population which is getting older.

“We employ five full-time geriatricians, whose purpose is to help older people who may be susceptible to illnesses such as this and urge that prevention is the best course of action.

“We advise them to have flu vaccinations as well as following the Keep Warm, Keep Well advice such as wearing multiple thin layers.”

East Lancashire coroner Michael Singleton said: “Normally at this time of year we would expect to have around 215 deaths per month, but we had 250 in December and we are still much busier than usual.”