FOI-2024-1719
You asked
Please can you provide me with information covering the past 10 available years for the following:
a) the number of deaths in the UK where interaction between alcohol and an antidepressant was stated as either the leading cause or a contributing cause of death.
b) the number of deaths in the UK where alcohol poisoning/overdose was listed as the cause of death, and antidepressants were also found in the system of the deceased.
c) the number of deaths where cause of death was listed as heart attack, stroke, or other natural cause, and alcohol and antidepressants were found in the system of the deceased (excluding cases where illicit drugs were also found in the system).
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. This is driven by information collected from death certificates at death registration. 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.
Numbers of deaths by underlying cause (ICD-10 code), sex, five-year age group and area of usual residence, for England and Wales, 2013 to 2022, are available from the NOMIS webservice.
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.
Please see below the ICD-10 codes that might be of interest.
The ICD-10 cause codes for:
- Deaths relating to anti-depressants are: X41, X61, Y11, Y49.1, Y49.2, Y49.0
- Deaths relating to alcohol consumption are: X45, Z13.3, X65, Y15, Z72.1, F10.2
- Deaths relating to cardiac arrest are: I21.9 (heart attack), I49, I42 (listed as leading causes of deaths on NOMIS)
- Deaths relating to stroke are: I63, I64, I69.4, I69.3
- Deaths relating to other natural causes would be any code in: A00.0 -- R99
Data on deaths registered in England and Wales between 2013 and 2022 is available on our NOMIS webservice, accessible via the following link: NOMIS. Please see the following instructions for how to use this service:
Select required dates (2013 to 2022)
Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority).
Select Age -- All ages or 5-year age bands.
Select Sex -- 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 do not hold final data for 2023 yet, this is usually published in summer the following year. Data for 2023 will be uploaded into NOMIS after "Deaths registered in England and Wales: 2023" bulletin is published.
While NOMIS provides data on underlying cause of death, it does not include information on additional causes of death mentioned on a death certificate.
If you wish to obtain further analysis on this topic, we may be able to produce this as a custom output. Such services are subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs, in line with the ONS charging policy. Please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk for more information.