FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3241

You asked

​I have found the following data on your website relating deaths caused by myocarditis: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/005620deathsfromacutemyocarditisorcardiomyopathybyagegenderandmonthofoccurrenceenglandandwales2001to2014.

Please supply the data for 2015 to present day please.

Please also supply data on hospital admissions for myocarditis and other data regarding positive diagnoses of myocarditis.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry regarding deaths involving myocarditis from 2015 to 2021.

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

In England and Wales, deaths where "Myocarditis" are mentioned on the death certificate are recorded with an ICD-10 codes of

  • I01.2 Acute Rheumatic Myocarditis
  • I40 Acute Myocarditis
  • I41 Myocarditis in diseases classified elsewhere
  • I51.4 Myocarditis unspecified.

2021 mortality data are still provisional and will be published on NOMIS once we have a final total in 2022. However, should you wish to obtain this data before this data, we can create a bespoke dataset. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). These enquiries fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk. As this information is available via another route, Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.

Unfortunately, we do not hold information on hospital admissions for myocarditis, or diagnosis of myocarditis.