Sudden Death Syndrome (Hansard, 29 April 1999)

§ Ms Hewitt

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Tim Hold to Mr. David Taylor, dated 29 April 1999: As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to answer your recent question on how many deaths have been reported from sudden death syndrome for the under 25 year-olds in each of the last five years. The information requested is shown in the table below. Death certificates do not usually say whether a death was sudden or not, and 'sudden death syndrome' is not a term that is used much in this country. When one of these terms is used, the death is assigned an underlying cause of death of 'sudden death, cause unknown', (International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision code 798). However, all deaths that are sudden and unexpected must be referred to a coroner for investigation. Usually a post mortem examination by a pathologist identifies a previously unsuspected disease that caused the death. The table shows the number of deaths at ages one to 24 from heart disease, stroke, and epilepsy which were certified by coroners. This should include all sudden deaths from these diseases, but will also include deaths that were referred to the coroner for other reasons. The table also gives the number of deaths for which no cause could be found by post mortem or inquest but which were not actually stated to have been 'sudden'.

Sudden deaths, cause unknown, and deaths from selected causes certified by coroners, of people aged one to 24 in England and Wales 1993 to 1997
	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Sudden, cause unknown	15	21	17	20	18
Certified by coroner, due to:
Heart disease	154	137	138	102	102
Stroke	29	26	30	30	15
Epilepsy	98	91	93	88	93
Unknown cause	26	27	35	40	41

Notes:

Figures do not include deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or any other deaths under 1 year of age.