Deaths in 2019, 2021, and 2022 due to blod clots

Release date:
27 July 2022

​FOI Ref: FOI/2022/4279

You asked

Please can you provide the number of deaths in the year 2019 due to blood clots.

And the same for the year 2021- present.

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:

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

The major ICD-10 codes for thrombosis and pulmonary embolism are: I80.1-I80.3, I80.9, I82.9 (DVT) and I26 (PE), however dependant on your specification there are more codes available.

Our NOMIS webservice provides a breakdown of deaths due to the specific ICD-10 code by requested geography, sex and age for England and Wales from 2013 to 2021. The following table has been extracted from this webservice:

Cause of death201920202021
A00-R99,U00-Y89
All causes, all ages		530,841607,922586,334
I26 Pulmonary
embolism		2,2942,4562,638
I80 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis		1,9772,3812,368
I80.0 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis of
superficial vessels of
lower extremities		000
I80.1 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis of
femoral vein		142215
I80.2 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis of
other deep vessels of
lower extremities		1,9452,3262,327
I80.8 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis of
other sites		000
I80.9 Phlebitis and
thrombophlebitis of
unspecified site		101
I82.9 Embolism and
thrombosis of
unspecified vein		82716

Download this table

.xls .csv

Further breakdowns of this data can be extracted from the NOMIS site. Please see the following instructions for how to use 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 not yet undertaken analysis of this specific cause of death for 2022 as the data is still provisional. However, if you would like to request deaths for 2022, or  where blood clots were either the underlying cause of death or a contributory mention, we can provide this as a bespoke request.

Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data are available to order from the HALE Customer Services Team. These extracts are out with the Freedom of Information Act and are subject to disclosure control, legal frameworks, resources and agreement to costs under the ONS charging policy.

If you would like to receive a quote for this work, please contact the Customer services team on Health.data@ons.gov.uk

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