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Clostridium: Death

Answer

I have been asked to reply.The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated November 2010:"As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many (a) deaths from and (b) cases of (i) Clostridium difficile and (ii) MRSA there have been in each region in each of the last three years. (26595)""Table 1 attached provides (a) the number of deaths where (i) Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) and (ii) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, either as the underlying cause or as a contributory factor, in each government office region in England, for the years 2007 to 2009 (the latest year available).""It should be noted that these figures include all deaths where C. difficile or MRSA was mentioned on the death certificate, either as an underlying cause or contributory factor. Those who die with ""C. difficile or MRSA are usually patients who are already very ill, and it is their existing illness which is often designated as the underlying cause of death.""The number of deaths involving MRSA and C. difficile registered in England and Wales each year by sex and age are published annually on the National Statistics website:""MRSA:""www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=13571""C. difficile:""www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=14782""Figures for C. difficile and MRSA infections are published by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Table 2 attached provides (b) the number of (i) C. difficile infections in people aged 2 years and over and (ii) MRSA bloodstream infections in acute NHS trusts by government office region in England for the last three financial years 2007/08 to 2009/10 (the latest year available).""The HPA publishes regular reports about antimicrobial surveillance, healthcare associated infections and their consequences for human health in the UK, these are available on the HPA website:""www.hpa.org.uk/Publications/InfectiousDiseases/AntimicrobialAndHealthcareAssociatedInfections/"

Table 1. Number of deaths where methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)¹ and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)² was mentioned on the death certificate, government office regions in England, 2007-09³,4
Deaths (persons)
	MRSA	C. difficile
Government office region	2007	2008	2009	2007	2008	2009
North East	85	88	53	328	347	311
North West	199	171	99	1,010	980	733
Yorkshire and The Humber	130	105	68	510	486	298
East Midlands	116	98	65	823	502	339
West Midlands	202	147	69	1,255	771	440
East of England	192	105	68	1,035	465	330
London	174	133	98	1,001	534	289
South East	224	167	118	1,080	750	481
South West	195	123	80	874	630	329
¹ Identified using the methodology described in Office for National Statistics: Statistical Bulletin: Deaths involving MRSA: England and Wales, 2009. Available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/mrsa0810.pdf
² Identified using the methodology described in Office for National Statistics: Statistical Bulletin: Deaths involving Clostridium difficile: England and Wales, 2009. Available at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/cdif0810.pdf
³ Based on boundaries as of 2010.
4 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Table 2. Number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)¹ bloodstream infections and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile)² infections in acute NHS trusts by government office region in England, 2007-09³,4
Infections
	MRSA	C. difficile
Government office region	2007	2008	2009	2007	2008	2009
North East	302	188	84	3,379	2,706	1,873
North West	670	419	303	9,574	6,722	4,909
Yorkshire and The Humber	519	356	226	5,156	4,091	2,463
East Midlands	254	187	138	3,691	2,475	1,957
West Midlands	511	307	161	7,071	4,088	3,065
East of England	333	213	146	5,573	2,818	2,265
London	823	579	409	7,270	4,326	3,011
South East	586	395	257	7,616	5,003	3,538
South West	453	291	174	6,168	3,866	2,523
¹ Figures for the number of infections are provided by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Infections are identified using the methodology described in the HPA report: Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance: 2009/10. Available at:
www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1281954479045
² The number of Clostridium difficile infections is given for people aged two years and over.
³ Based on HPA regions which are equivalent to Government office regions.
4 Figures are for infections in each financial year.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

26595; 519 c1008-10W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Death MRSA Clostridium

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk