FOI REF: FOI-2023-1369

You asked

I would like to request a breakdown of deaths by the following causes for the past 10 years in England:

• Breast cancer

• Prostrate cancer

• Bowel Cancer

• Thyroid cancer

• Adrenal cancer

• Kidney cancer

• Liver cancer

• Pancreatic cancer

Please include the underlying cause only and provide the ICD-10 codes you are using for these deaths. Please include 5 year age band and sex.

We said

Thank you for your request.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All 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  

The ICD-10 cause codes for the cancer you mention are as follows: 

  • Breast cancer: C50 

  • Prostate cancer: C61 

  • (Colon) Bowel Cancer : C18 

  • Thyroid cancer: C73 

  • Adrenal cancer: C74 

  • Kidney cancer: C64 

  • Liver cancer: C22 

  • Pancreatic cancer: C25

The information you have requested from 2013 to 2021 is available on our explorable dataset available on our NOMIS webservice. Please see the following instructions for using this service:

  • Select period (2013 to 2021)  

  • Select the geography (England)

  • 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)

The figures for 2022 are available in the associated download named 'Number of deaths registered in 2022 by underlying cause, sex and age group, specific cancers, England'.