FOI REF: FOI-2023-1431
You asked
Please could I request information about the number of deaths with sepsis mentioned on the death certificate (i.e. sepsis-related deaths) separated by age, divided by calendar year in the county of Kent. It would also be helpful if the data could additionally be separated regionally if possible - i.e. into local areas smaller than Kent.
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
Deaths due to or involving sepsis are assigned ICD-10 codes A40 (Streptococcal sepsis) or A41 (Other sepsis).
Deaths "involving" a cause include all deaths where the cause was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, either as the underlying (main cause) of death or a contributory cause. Deaths "due to" a cause are a subset of "involving", and only include deaths where the cause was the underlying cause of death.
Numbers of death registrations by sex, five-year age group, underlying cause (ICD-10 code) and area of usual residence (including region and local authority) for England and Wales, 2013 to 2021, are available via the NOMIS webservice. Although there is no option to select county, you can select data for each of the local authorities within Kent County. Please note, NOMIS only provides deaths by underlying cause, you will not be able to obtain numbers of deaths involving sepsis via this service.
To create your own tabulations in NOMIS, please follow these instructions:
Select the geography - (England and Wales, region or 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 (select ICD-10 codes A40 and A41 from the list)
Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
We recently published numbers of death registrations due to and involving sepsis, for England and Wales combined, for the period 2001 to 2022. This is available to download via the following link: Deaths involving sepsis, England and Wales: 2001 to 2022.
This information is not readily available at local authority level; however, we can create a bespoke tabulation for you. Bespoke tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order. Such services are subject to legal frameworks, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk. to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there will be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.