Sudden unexplained deaths in children for 2017-2021

​FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3259

You asked

Please supply the number of Sudden Unexplained Death in Children, by age, for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 & 2021.

For 2021, please also provide the covid vaccine status, where known, for ages 12 and above.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry regarding sudden unexplained deaths in children for 2017-2021.

These figures represent death registrations. There can be a delay between the date a death occurred and the date a death was registered. More information can be found in our impact of registration delays release.

All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) the coded mortality data available up to end of December 2019 is coded to version 2014 of the ICD10 framework. 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 World Health Organisation (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

In England and Wales, deaths "Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome" are mentioned on the death certificate are recorded with an ICD-10 code of R96.

A death certificate of an infant (under 1 year old) which mentions "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome" are coded with ICD-10 code R95.

Using the NOMIS interactive webservice, we hold the following information for 2017 – 2020. This data covers England and Wales, including non-residents.

2021 data has not yet been published; however, we have extracted the data in 5-year age bands.

Data for 2021 is provisional and the figures are subject to change.

Due to the small numbers involved, we are unable to publish with single year of age due to disclosure and so are therefore unable to provide the data for those aged 12 and below. These figures have been redacted in order to protect the confidentiality of individuals. This is consistent with the disclosure control methodology used for deaths. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) which 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 businesses or persons 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.

Unfortunately, we do not hold the requested analysis of deaths involving Sudden Unexplained Death in children by vaccination status. In order to provide this, we would need to create a dataset using complex linking of mortality records to vaccination records, which would require a high level of skill and judgement to produce. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.

The latest publication for unexplained deaths in infancy is Unexplained deaths in infancy, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) which holds data for 2019. 2020 data is due to be published in 2022. Due to registration delays we do not hold data for 2021. Since 2016, there has been a progressive increase in registration delay for unexplained infant deaths. The pandemic is likely to have exacerbated existing registration delays because of delays in coroner's proceeding during this time. Consequently, some deaths that occurred in 2019 may not be captured in this release. Next year, we will have a more accurate picture of late death registrations during 2020, for deaths that occurred in 2019.