You asked
Please supply any information or data about the number of deaths in the UK that are related to or caused by Lyme disease.
Please also supply any other statistics you may hold about Lyme disease.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for mortality data for England and Wales. National Records of Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Centre are responsible for statistics in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
ONS mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All of 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
Lyme Disease can be identified in these datasets using ICD-10 code A69.2.
The number of deaths from Lyme Disease by sex and age for England and Wales combined can be found in our 21st Century Mortality publication which is available via the following link:
Deaths registered in England and Wales
Recent statistics (2013 to 2018) can also be obtained from our NOMIS website via the following link: NOMIS. This is an interactive web service that provides mortality statistics for England and Wales (separately), broken down by calendar year of registration, age, sex, underlying cause of death and area of usual residence of the deceased.