The number of deaths in England and Wales involving Clostridium difficile jumped by 72% in a year, the latest government figures show.
Death certificates that mention the infection rose from 3757 in 2005 to 6480 in 2006, while the number of deaths where C difficile was given as the underlying cause stood at 3490 in 2006, up from 2063 in the previous year.
The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics in the spring 2008 issue of Health Statistics Quarterly, also show that the number of death certificates mentioning methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had not risen in the same period, although the number of deaths attributed directly to the infection rose by 12%. Mentions of MRSA on death certificates stood at 1652 in 2006, up from 1649 in 2005. Previously the number of deaths involving MRSA had risen steadily since 1993, when the number of death certificates mentioning the disease stood at just 51.
Deaths involving C difficile rose by 77% among men (from 37 to 65.5 per million of population) and 66% among women (from 38.6 to 64.2 per million).
For MRSA, the rate of increase among men over the period was 4%, while among women the rate fell by 9%.
Health Statistics Quarterly also reported that from 2005 to 2006 the conception rate in England and Wales rose among women aged 19 years or over but particularly among women aged over 40, who experienced the most rapid rise. An estimated 866 800 conceptions occurred in England and Wales in 2006, up 3% from the 2005 figure of 841 800. As in previous years, nearly four fifths of all conceptions resulted in a birth.
The conception rate among girls aged 13-15 was 7.7 per 1000 girls in 2006, a 1% decrease from the 7.8 per 1000 in 2005. The figures show a rise in the number of abortions in this age group, from 3800 in 2005 to 4000 in 2006, with 3200 abortions reported in the first three quarters of 2007.
The latest issue of Health Statistics Quarterly also covers suicide rates by marital status in England and Wales. The figures show that people who are married are generally less likely to commit suicide. This has been the case for the last 25 years, despite a fall over that period in the number of people marrying.
In the period 1983 to 2004 the suicide rate among single and divorced men and among divorced women was around three times that of married men and women.
From 1983 to 2004 the likelihood of suicide among single women grew from just over twice that among married women to around three times. The differential between single and married men aged 25-44 fell between 1983 and 2004. In 1984 the suicide rate among single men was three times that of married men, but by 2004 this had fallen to 2.5 times.
