You asked

FOI/2021/2199​​

Please can you send the number of deaths from sepsis in the UK yearly from 2006-2021 or 2020 if 2021 is not yet available please?

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for the provision of mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Therefore, we do not hold the requested data for the whole of the UK. Should you wish to obtain this data from NRS and NISRA, they can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

Our 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.

Sepsis is defined by ICD-10 codes:

  • A40            Streptococcal sepsis
  • A41            Other sepsis

The following ICD-10 codes are sometimes also included:

  • A39.2         Acute meningococcaemia

  • A39.3         Chronic meningococcaemia

  • A39.4         Meningococcaemia, unspecified

Deaths by underlying cause (ICD-10 code), sex, five-year age group and area of usual residence, for England and Wales, 2013 to 2019, are available via our NOMIS explorable webservice.

Please see the following instructions for using this service:

  • 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)

We have also produced the following bespoke tabulations, which are available in the user requested data section of our website:

Mortality statistics for 2020 and 2021 are currently provisional and do not include cause of death information (other than for COVID-19 and flu & pneumonia).  Latest data are available via our weekly and monthly mortality publications.

Death registrations by leading cause, sex, age and area of usual residence for 2020 will be finalised and published in July 2021 in our Deaths Registered Series. Full underlying cause information will be made available shortly afterwards via NOMIS. When publication dates are finalised they will be announced via our Release Calendar.

If you would like to discuss this query further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.