The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 31 January 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many people died from (a) Clostridium difficile and (b) Meticillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus in each year since 1997, including neonates, broken down by Government Office Region. (112363)
Special analyses of deaths involving MRSA and Clostridium difficile are undertaken annually by ONS for England and Wales. These are published in Health Statistics Quarterly. The latest year for which such figures are available is 2004. The information requested is given in the attached tables.
Since 1986 ONS has used the internationally recommended death certificate for neonatal deaths. This means that these deaths cannot be assigned an underlying cause of death.1 Neonatal deaths have been included in the ‘mentioned’ causes.
1 Office for National Statistics (2005) Mortality Statistics: Childhood Infant and Perinatal, Series DH3 No.36, Office for National Statistics: London.
1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) North East 54 29 65 35 78 35 102 51 125 72 North West 134 67 154 87 178 86 219 105 278 138 Yorkshire and the Humber 60 26 87 43 115 57 115 56 155 74 East Midlands 63 40 67 33 65 35 95 58 137 90 West Midlands 86 42 116 68 142 69 223 115 282 149 East of England 82 46 147 87 186 102 227 126 245 138 London 138 80 189 115 210 139 220 134 239 145 South East 164 97 173 102 210 106 307 166 336 182 South West 137 72 152 91 154 80 194 101 358 199 Wales 56 31 63 29 88 46 85 46 88 55 1 Identified using the methodology described in Office for National Statistics (2005) Report: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 1999-2004. Health Statistics Quarterly 30, 56-60. 2 Excludes neonatal deaths. 3 Deaths registered in 1999, deaths occurring in 2001 -2004. 4 Data for 1997-98 and 2000 are not available. The reason for this is explained in the above report and in background note 1.
1997 1998 1999 2000 (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) North East 10 2 15 5 13 1 25 9 North West 42 9 61 13 49 14 63 18 Yorkshire and the Humber 30 8 30 9 40 9 43 13 East Midlands 19 8 29 11 35 7 46 12 West Midlands 51 9 48 18 66 20 82 28 East of England 49 13 35 10 49 9 68 24 London 55 19 47 11 58 15 86 24 South East 62 16 64 21 74 18 134 35 South West 37 12 43 11 47 17 69 21 Wales 34 6 39 9 55 16 51 11
(a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) (a) (b) North East 28 7 38 9 49 15 68 20 North West 53 17 75 30 113 43 127 28 Yorkshire and the Humber 65 24 75 27 82 30 115 34 East Midlands 66 23 50 13 74 23 90 21 West Midlands 80 27 82 27 93 29 115 39 East of England 81 26 84 24 100 31 128 48 London 90 30 103 27 104 42 135 39 South East 140 53 143 39 167 55 178 62 South West 78 33 92 34 108 31 136 43 Wales 53 14 58 18 64 21 75 26 1 Identified using the methodology described in Giffiths C, Lamagni TL, Crowcroft NS, Duckworth G and Rooney C (2004). Trends in MRSA in England and Wales: analysis of morbidity and mortality data for 1993-2002. Health Statistics Quarterly 21, 15-22. 2 Excludes neonatal deaths.