FOI REF: FOI/2023/4734
You asked
Could you please supply any information, if held, regarding the annual number of deaths related to people attempting to save their (or others') pet dogs from harm?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Unfortunately, we do not hold information on the circumstances of a death, such as whilst protecting an animal from harm, unless relevant to the cause of death. Our information is derived from the death certificate and the circumstances of the death are not always recorded as part of the death registration process.
The most similar information on deaths involving dogs which we do hold would be deaths due to being bitten or struck by a dog. More information on cause of death coding and completion of a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) are available in our User Guide to Mortality Statistics.
The conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. Using the ICD-10 look up the following ICD-10 code W54 is used for deaths involving being bitten or struck by a dog.
Using our NOMIS webservice, we can provide deaths for 2013 to 2021.
I have attached an output from NOMIS for England and Wales. If you would like further disaggregation of the data from NOMIS please follow the instructions below.
- Select time period – 2021 to 2013.
- Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority).
- Select Age – All ages or 5-year age bands.
- Select Gender – Total or Male/Female
- Select rates – All deaths, rates or percentage of population for example.
- Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available).
Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
For historic data, you can find this in our 20th Century Mortality files. Data from 2001 to 2021 can be found in the 21st Century Mortality Files.
We also hold the following user requested data set: Deaths from dog bites, England and Wales, 1981 to 2015.
If the death has been referred to a Coroner for investigation, there may be further information in the Coroner's text. It is possible perform a search of the coroner text to look for the terms laid out in your query, but we would not advise this as the results are likely to be a large under representation as we cannot guarantee that the location information would be recorded.
These bespoke data requests are available to order from the HALE Customer services team and are subject to disclosure control, legal frameworks, resources and subject to agreement to costs, where applicable. Please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk to access this service.