Deaths from combustion engine fumes in Wales 2013 to 2023

FOI REF: FOI-2023-1476

You asked

Please could I request the figures for the number of people who have died resulting from Combustion Engine Fumes across North, South, East, and West Wales over the past 10 years?

We said

Thank you for your request.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All 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.    

The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:   

a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or

b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury   

The ICD-10 cause codes used for combustion engine fumes are: 

• Y17.0 - Poisoning by and exposure to carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhaust, undetermined intent
• X67.0 - Intentional self-poisoning by and exposure to carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhaust.
• X47.0 - Accidental poisoning by and exposure to carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhaust
• X88.0 - Assault by carbon monoxide from combustion engine exhaust

There were 65 deaths due to combustion engine fumes for the period January 2013 to September 2023 across Wales. The associated download shows the number of deaths registered for Wales using the standard Welsh boundaries of Local Authorities and Welsh health boards, we have provided the number and rates for the period January 2013 to September 2013.

When viewing the file please note the following:

1. Figures are for deaths registered rather than deaths occurring. For more information see our Impact of registration delays publication.  

2. For deaths over 28 days, the Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) has been used to classify cause of death in the publication. The ICD is used to translate diagnoses of diseases and other health problems from words into alphanumeric code to permit easier storage, retrieval and analysis. For deaths registered from 1 January 2022, cause of death is coded to the ICD-10 classification using MUSE 5.8 software. Deaths registered between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 were coded to the using MUSE 5.5 and previous years were coded to IRIS 4.2.3. For more information click here. 

3. Figures for underlying cause exclude neonatal deaths as it is not possible to identify a single underlying cause for neonatal deaths or stillbirths. More information can be found in section 6 of our User Guide to Infant and Child Mortality Statistics. 

For further information please contact Health.data@ons.gov.uk.