You asked
Please provide annual figures on the total number of deaths each year where obesity was listed as the underlying cause from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Of the total number of deaths where obesity was listed as the underlying cause from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available, please breakdown this total number of deaths by a) age b) sex and c) area of usual residence.
Please provide annual figures on the total number of deaths each year where obesity was listed as a contributory factor from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Of the total number of deaths where obesity was listed as a contributory factor from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available, please breakdown this total number of deaths by a) age b) sex and c) area of usual residence.
Please provide annual figures on the total number of deaths each year where obesity was either listed as the underlying cause or listed as a contributory factor from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Of the total number of deaths where obesity was either listed as the underlying cause or listed as a contributory factor from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available, please breakdown this total number of deaths by a) age b) sex and c) area of usual residence.
Please provide annual figures on the total number of deaths of pregnant women each year where obesity was listed as the underlying cause or listed as a contributory factor from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Of the overall total number from the year 2000 up until and including the most recent year for which statistics are available, please break down this total number of these deaths by a) age and b) area and Local Authority of usual residence.
For ease of understanding, when I refer to obesity I am referring to the ONS classification E-66 Obesity.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for publishing mortality statistics for deaths Registered in England and Wales, using the information supplied on the death certificate. The most recent year for which mortality statistics are available is 2017.
Cause of death is coded using the International classification of diseases (ICD). Version 10 of the ICD (ICD-10) has been used to code cause of death in England and Wales since 2001. Prior to this, version 9 (ICD-9) was used. Causes of death are not directly comparable between different versions of the ICD.
The ICD-10 code for obesity would be E66 and the ICD-9 code would be 278.0.
Unfortunately, the death certificate does not contain information on whether the deceased was pregnant, however there are certain causes of death which are related to pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium. The ICD-10 code for maternal obesity would be O99.2 and the ICD-9 code would be 648.9.
The selection of the underlying cause of death is based on ICD rules and is made from the condition or conditions reported by the certifier, as recorded on the certificate. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:
- the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death
- the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury
Obesity is usually a background risk factor causing another condition such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer, rather than a health problem that is specifically mentioned on the death certificate. Therefore, the number of deaths with an underlying cause, or mention of obesity on the death certificate is likely to be an underestimate of the true number of deaths where obesity was a contributing factor. As such, Public Health England may be better placed to provide a more accurate estimate:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-obesity-and-the-food-environment/health-matters-obesity-and-the-food-environment--2
Deaths by age, sex, underlying cause and area of usual residence are available for 2013 to 2017 from our explorable dataset:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/construct/summary.asp?mode=construct&version=0&dataset=161
Prior to this, we did not publish cause of death statistics by local authority, however deaths in England and Wales, by age, sex and cause for 2001 to 2017 are available from our Deaths registered in England and Wales – 21st century mortality: 2017 dataset: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/the21stcenturymortalityfilesdeathsdataset
The equivalent data for 2000, using ICD-9 for cause of death is available from our 20th century mortality files: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/datasets/the21stcenturymortalityfilesdeathsdataset
Mortality statistics on the number of mentions of a cause (as a contributory factor) are available to order along with other special extracts and tabulations of deaths data for England and Wales (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs, where appropriate). You can contact the team directly at: vsob@ons.gov.uk