You asked
You publish the deaths where the underlying cause is 'respiratory disease' and also where covid 19 is mentioned on the death certificate. I would like to know if the covid 19 statistic is included in the statistic where the underlying cause is a respiratory disease (as covid is presumably a respiratory disease). Presumably I cannot add the respiratory disease figure and the covid 19 together as the covid 19 figure may have a different underlying cause such as heart disease. I was looking for what would be the total weekly figure for death due to any respiratory disease and I could not be sure from the statistics presented. Alternatively, is there a different table where I could find these data?
Also, the ONS death statistics no longer has information on the cause of death. Why has this been removed?
I would like to be able to see the total deaths for a particular week and then all the causes statistics that make up this total, including showing what part covid19 contributes to the total. This should be available under the freedom of information act. In any event these data must be readily available. I am not asking for some special breakdown or creation of other categories, just how ever it is already recorded.
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 Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Are the COVID-19 data included in the figures where the underlying cause is a respiratory disease (as covid is presumably a respiratory disease).
Our provisional weekly deaths publication reports the number of death registrations where respiratory disease was recorded as the underlying cause. Respiratory disease is defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J00-J99 and includes influenza, pneumonia and so on. Although COVID is a respiratory disease, it is currently coded to emergency ICD codes U.701 and U.702. The WHO provide an online ICD code lookup.
All other respiratory diseases are coded to ICD codes J00-J99. If COVID-19 was the underlying cause, then it would be included in the COVID-19 mentions category, but not the respiratory disease underlying cause category. However, if COVID-19 was mentioned as a contributory factor and another type of respiratory disease was the underlying cause then the death would be counted in both the respiratory and COVID-19 categories.
Due to a difference in the way we report deaths for these cause groups, it is possible that some deaths are counted in both the respiratory and COVID-19 categories. This is because for respiratory disease we publish the number of deaths where it was recorded as the underlying cause only. This is compared to the number of deaths that 'involved' COVID-19 i.e. the number of deaths that mentioned COVID-19 anywhere on the death certificate, whether as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor. A death registration that has respiratory disease recorded as the underlying cause of death and COVID-19 recorded as a contributory factor would appear in both counts.
Total weekly figure for death due to any respiratory disease
The total number of weekly deaths where the underlying cause was a respiratory disease can be found in the 'Weekly figures 2020/2021' table of the Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional dataset. Please see row 17 in column A. This will include figures where U.071 and U.072 were listed as the underlying cause, as this would be considered a respiratory disease.
Figure 2 of our Deaths registered weekly bulletin shows the weekly number of deaths due to COVID-19 and the number of deaths involving COVID-19, with "due to" referring only to deaths where COVID-19 was recorded as the underlying cause of death and "involving" referring to deaths that had COVID-19 mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not. Please see the download data option at the bottom of figure 2.
ONS mortality statistics no longer have information on the cause of death. Why has this been removed?
We have been producing Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales in the response to COVID-19. This publication provides a greater insight into the leading underlying causes of death groups for deaths occurring in England and Wales between March and June 2020.
We define a pre-existing condition here as the last health condition mentioned on the first part of the death certificate when it came before the coronavirus (COVID-19) or was an independent contributory factor in the death, mentioned in part II.
Provisional monthly death registration data for England and Wales, broken down by sex, age and country are now available in this monthly publication: Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales. This publication contains data from July onwards and includes deaths due to COVID-19 and leading causes of death. Leading causes is also available on table 11 and includes figures for the five-year average.
We paused the publication of monthly COVID-19 deaths with details around the death such as pre-existing conditions or no underlying cause, as the number of deaths in some areas of the data can become very small and poses a disclosure risk, making it entirely possible to identify individual records. However, due to the increase in the number of COVID-19-related deaths again, we are assessing how to resume this dataset safely, although there is no confirmed publishing date.
Total deaths for a particular week alongside all causes of death that make up this total, including Covid-19 as a cause
Due to the short time turnaround time and the complexity involved in the production of the weekly deaths data, it is not possible to include this level of analysis on a weekly basis.
Additionally, these weekly figures are subject to frequent change following late registration delays due to coroner's inquests etc.
All-cause mortality data broken down by ICD-10 codes will be published in July 2020 when our annual deaths registered dataset is finalised.
We would be unable to release COVID-19 data in its raw format, as this would be disclosive. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it an offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individual can be identified, we find that Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies. Section 44 is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest test needs to be applied.
If you would like to discuss these statistics, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.