Table 1.

Cases of meningococcal disease^* from the Oxford record linkage study database, number of deaths within 30 days and case fatality rate per 100 000, 1963-98

Cases admitted to hospital				All cases
Time period	No of cases	No of deaths	Case fatality rate (95% CI)	No of cases	Incidence per 100 000 population (95% CI)	No of deaths†	Case fatality rate (95% CI)
1963-8	41	5	12.2 (2.2 to 22.2)	42	1.23 (0.86 to 1.60)	6	14.3 (3.7 to 24.9)
1969-73	72	6	8.3 (1.9 to 14.7)	74	1.72 (1.33 to 2.11)	8	10.8 (3.7 to 17.9)
1974-8	108	12	11.1 (5.2 to 17.0)	111	1.24 (1.01 to 1.47)	15	13.5 (7.2 to 19.9)
1979-83	113	11	9.7 (4.3 to 15.2)	113	1.09 (0.89 to 1.29)	11	9.7 (4.3 to 15.2)
1984-8	147	16	10.9 (5.8 to 15.9)	152	1.33 (1.12 to 1.54)	21	13.8 (8.3 to 19.3)
1989-93	303	25	8.3 (5.2 to 11.3)	308	2.40 (2.13 to 2.67)	30	9.7 (6.4 to 13.1)
1994-8	464	41	8.8 (6.3 to 11.4)	473	3.55 (3.23 to 3.87)	50	10.6 (7.8 to 13.3)
1963-98	1248	116	9.3 (7.7 to 10.9)	1273	1.97 (1.86 to 2.07)	141	11.1 (9.4 to 12.8)
P value for trend‡			0.31		<0.001		0.28

^*International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, code 036 and 10th revision code A39.

^†Includes 25 people who died outside hospital or who had no record of hospital admission.

^‡P values refer to the change in annual rates 1963-98 from logistic regression modelling. Visual inspection of the annual incidence and further modelling showed little change in incidence during 1963-88 (P=0.10) and a significant increase during 1989-98 (P<0.001).