Sudden adult death syndrome and sudden cardiac deaths over the past five years

FOI reference: FOI-2023-1595

You asked

Please supply the number of fatalities resulting in sudden adult death syndrome and Sudden cardiac death during the past five years up to 2023. 

We said

Thank you for your request.

We hold mortality data for England and Wales, which is based on the information collected at death registration.  

All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 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 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 

Sudden Adult Death is defined using the following ICD-10 codes: 

• R96.0: Instantaneous death 
• I46.1: Sudden cardiac death 
• I49.9: Cardiac arrhythmia, unspecified 

Numbers of deaths by underlying cause (ICD-10 code), sex, five-year age group and area of usual residence, for England and Wales, 2013 to 2021, are available via the NOMIS webservice.

Please follow these instructions 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) 

• Select format (Excel or CSV for example) 

Please see the associated downloads containing tabulations of death registrations for the three ICD-10 codes listed above, for England and Wales, 2017 to 2021, from NOMIS. 

We have not conducted analysis of these specific ICD-10 codes for 2022. Data for 2022 will be available in NOMIS shortly after the release of the annual Deaths Registered (DR) Series, which is scheduled for publication in December 2023. When a publication date is finalised, it will be announced via our release calendar. 

Mortality data for 2023 are currently provisional and would also require the creation of a bespoke tabulation. Please note, sudden adult deaths are referred to a coroner so if we were to provide figures for 2023 at this time, the numbers would be an underestimate due to registration delays and therefore subject to change. You can read more about the impact of registration delays on mortality statistics here.

As such, information for 2022 and 2023 is exempt from release under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. As a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest.  This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.