FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3785
You asked
Please supply data and statistics on the number of women who:
a) have died from influenza or complications caused by flu during pregnancy since 2010 in the UK
b) received a flu vaccine during pregnancy since 2010
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, which is based on the information collected 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.
England and Wales
When a doctor certifies a death, they list all causes in the chain of events that led to the death, including contributory causes. From this information, an underlying cause of death is determined.
The conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded by ONS using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From the causes listed on the death certificate an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. Coding is carried out automatically except in cases where it is not possible, in which case information will be coded manually. 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
Detailed information about cause of death coding can be found in our User Guide to Mortality Statistics (Section 9).
Deaths due to influenza during pregnancy
We cannot identify deaths due to influenza during pregnancy because whether a person was pregnant is not recorded on the death certificate. Therefore, we do not hold the requested information.
If the underlying cause of death was pregnancy related, then the relevant ICD-10 code for diseases related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium (O00-O99) would be assigned. If the underlying cause of death was influenza, then a code from the ICD-10 range J09-J11 would be assigned.
Death registrations by year, sex, age group, underlying cause and area of usual residence, England and Wales, 2013 to 2020 are available via NOMIS and the Deaths Registered Series. However, these datasets do not provide additional breakdowns by contributory cause.
Please follow the instructions below to use the NOMIS webservice:
- 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). A full cause of death (ICD-10) breakdown is available for selection, as well as a list of the 47 leading causes of mortality.
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
If it is of interest, we could provide a custom output for numbers of deaths where a pregnancy related condition was recorded as the underlying cause and influenza was mentioned as a contributory health condition. Such services would be subject to legal frameworks, disclosure controls, resources and agreement of costs. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contacthealth.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there may be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.
Vaccination status whilst pregnant
We do not hold the requested information regarding the number of women who received a flu vaccine when pregnant. NHS Digital may be better placed to asssit with this request. They can be contacted at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk.
If you wish to discuss this further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.