Sudden adult death syndrome deaths since summer 2020

​FOI ref: FOI/2022/4503

You asked

The number for the amount of people who have died from sudden adult death syndrome since the summer of 2020.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

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:

1. the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
2. the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury

In England and Wales, deaths where "Sudden Adult Death Syndrome" or "Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome" are mentioned on the death certificate are recorded with an ICD-10 code of R96 or I49.9 respectively. Sudden Cardiac Death is recorded with an ICD-19 code of I46.1.

We have not conducted analysis of these ICD-10 codes from the summer of 2020, however annual figures are available on our NOMIS Webservice. Please see the associated download named 'NOMIS_SAD_deaths_2020_and_2021.xlsx' extracted from NOMIS. This contains the above ICD-10 codes for England and Wales, and Total Mortality which includes non-residents.  This data is also published as part of our 21st century mortality, which contains all-cause mortality data by ICD code, age and sex, 2001-2020, England and Wales. You can filter on 'column A' for each year and filter on ICD-10 R96, I49.9 and I46.1.

If you would like to request a breakdown by specific periods, such as mid-year periods or include data for 2022, we can create this as a bespoke request. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data are available order. These extracts are subject to disclosure control, legal frameworks, disclosure control and agreement to costs under the ONS Charging policy.

For further information or to obtain a quote, please contact the HALE customer services team at Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.