How many patients with underlying health conditions have died as a result of norovirus or had norovirus listed as a contributory cause of m…

The information which is available is given in the following table. National Records of Scotland (NRS) statistics on winter mortality are based on the numbers of deaths which were registered between 1 December and 31 March, inclusive. The following figures are for deaths which occurred in hospitals. NRS produces its statistics from what is recorded on the medical certificate of the cause of death (MCCD), which should mention only medical conditions that caused or contributed to the death. As the MCCD should not mention medical conditions which did not cause or contribute to the death, NRS cannot know exactly how many patients had underlying health conditions. However, on the basis of what was recorded on the MCCDs, it would appear that very few (if any) of these people did not have other medical conditions.
Winter deaths in hospitals in Scotland for which “norovirus” or an equivalent term* was mentioned on the death certificate:
Winter in which the Death was Registered (1 December to 31 March)
NHS Board**
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
Ayrshire and Arran
0
0
0
0
Borders
0
0
1
1
Dumfries and Galloway
0
0
0
0
Fife
1
0
2
0
Forth Valley
0
1
3
0
Grampian
0
0
1
2
Greater Glasgow and Clyde
1
0
1
0
Highland
0
0
0
0
Lanarkshire
0
0
0
0
Lothian
0
2
8
4
Orkney
0
0
1
0
Shetland
0
0
0
0
Tayside
0
0
1
3
Western Isles
0
0
0
0
All Scotland
2
3
18
10
Note: *This table counts all deaths for which any one of the following words or terms was mentioned in the death certificate: “norovirus”, “noroviral”, “Norwalk” (as this is what “norovirus” was originally called when it was identified in 1968), “small round structured virus” or “SRSV” (a term which was used later) and “winter vomiting” (as such illnesses are usually caused by norovirus). It also includes the deaths for which the underlying cause or any contributory cause was coded, in terms of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD10) as “A08.1 Acute gastroenteropathy due to Norwalk agent”.
**Deaths are counted against the area in which the hospital is located (rather than against the person’s area of usual residence, if in Scotland, which is the usual basis of NRS statistics).
These figures may underestimate slightly the true number of deaths to which norovirus has contributed, because they do not include deaths which were certified as due to (e.g.) gastroenteritis without any mention of norovirus (or one of the other terms referred above), perhaps because the presence of the virus had not been identified.