FOI ref: FOI/2022/4186
You asked
I am interested in statistics that are held on file by the ONS and the one I am interested is the number of children's deaths that has links to Malnutrition.
The Annual growth of this over the last twenty years or since figures started with Malnutrition deaths.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration.
We have published the following analysis regarding deaths caused by malnutrition: Deaths where malnutrition was the underlying cause of death or was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, persons, England and Wales, 2001 to 2017.
Analysis of deaths linked to malnutrition for 2017 onwards can be produced for you as a bespoke request. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries can be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.
Please note, these data do not provide enough information to link the deaths to poor care. It is not possible to determine from these figures how or where a condition originated. There are many explanations as to why someone becomes malnourished: for example, they may have cancer of the digestive tract, which means they can't eat properly or can't absorb nutrients; they may have suffered from a stroke or have advanced dementia which can cause difficulties chewing and swallowing; or they may abuse alcohol and so not eat properly.
If you would like to discuss this enquiry further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.