You asked
Please can you provide me statistics for sudden adult death syndrome in years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
We said
Thank you for your request.
You have made a Freedom of Information Request asking for statistics for Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS) in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The coding of sudden adult / arrhythmic death syndrome is not clearly defined in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD 10) and the term is not included in the alphabetical ICD index that is used to determine which code to assign. This makes it difficult to apply consistent coding rules.
In England and Wales we would normally code a death certificate which said "Sudden Adult Death Syndrome" to ICD 10 code R96. More information on the coding of SADS can be found on our website:
Figures for 2016 are not yet available, and we do not publish figures for the UK as a whole, but figures for deaths for 2013 - 2015 in England and Wales are available through our explorable data set:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select/getdatasetbytheme.asp?theme=73
The below tables taken from our explorable dataset show that in England and Wales there were 104 deaths coded to R96 in 2014, compared to 94 in 2015.
Number of deaths coded to R96, England and Wales (including non-residents) 2014
| Gender | R96, other sudden death, cause unknown |
|---|---|
| Total | 104 |
| Male | 70 |
| Female | 34 |
Number of deaths coded to R96, England and Wales (including non-residents) 2015
| Gender | R96, other sudden death, cause unkbown |
|---|---|
| Total | 94 |
| Male | 55 |
| Female | 39 |
Other special extracts and tabulations of deaths data for England and Wales are available (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreement of costs, where appropriate). If you would like any further information, please contact the team directly at: vsob@ons.gov.uk