Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-39738

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: 5 August 2025
Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 26 August 2025

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths have been reported where the cause of death was sepsis, either on its own or alongside other factors, in each month of the past 10 years.

Answer

I have asked Alison Byrne, Chief Executive of National Records of Scotland to respond. Her response is:

Table 1 shows the number of deaths where sepsis was mentioned in the cause of death, either as the underlying cause or a contributory cause, which occurred in Scotland in each month of the past 10 years.

Table 1: Deaths which mention sepsis by month of occurrence, Scotland, 2014 to 2023 [note 1]

Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
2014	221	207	207	183	193	181	193	213	176	212	187	223
2015	257	220	200	209	175	209	210	194	184	200	195	225
2016	229	235	222	174	155	200	191	168	170	174	192	215
2017	203	179	175	198	165	174	155	178	153	176	177	212
2018	242	181	214	173	189	153	151	154	163	179	193	183
2019	198	170	154	162	152	163	154	156	157	168	141	184
2020	178	167	171	150	154	134	155	153	155	172	160	174
2021	177	164	170	160	163	158	162	192	183	192	182	224
2022	199	170	175	186	164	165	176	191	193	215	208	248
2023	251	230	227	180	179	160	151	169	154	179	164	212

Note 1: These figures have been determined using ICD-10 codes A40 (streptococcal sepsis) and A41 (other sepsis). This will be an underestimate of the number of deaths involving sepsis. There are a range of conditions involving sepsis which will not lead to a code A40 or A41, for example 'urosepsis' will be coded to N39.0 (urinary tract infection, site not specified). It is not possible to include these codes in the definition of sepsis, as they will include deaths which are not sepsis-related.

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