This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Official Information request 'Morbidity and Mortality Data for Varicella (Chicken Pox)'.





133 Molesworth Street 
PO Box 5013 
Wellington 6140 
New Zealand 
+64 4 496 2000
11 April 2019 
Cade Pellett 
By email: 
[email address] 
Ref: 
H201901384 and H201901428 
Dear Cade 
Response to your request for official information 
Thank you for your requests for information under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act) 
on 12 April 2019 and 15 April 2019 for: 
“I'm doing some research on the contraction and the death rates from Typhoid Fever 
[Diphtheria, Whooping cough, and Scarlet Fever] in NZ from as far back as our records 
show [and] …the Mortality and Morbidity data for Varicel a (Chickenpox) from 1970's to 
current for the whole of NZ.” 

Information held by the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) relating to your requests is attached to 
this response. Please note that 2015 is the most recent year for which this data is currently 
available. Finalising mortality and morbidity data takes several years as there are a variety of 
data quality processes involved before this information is published. Generally, provisional 
data becomes available around two years after the end of the year. As such, 2016 data is 
expected to be provisionally available in mid-2019. Additional contextual information is also 
noted in the data tables. 
The Ministry data warehouse only includes mortality and hospitalisation data from 1988 
onwards. Due to this, the data supplied has been sourced from the Ministry of Health 
Publication series. Hospitalisation data from 1875 to 1977 was not published.  
I trust that this information fulfils your request. Under section 28(3) of the Act you have the 
right to ask the Ombudsman to review any decisions made under this request. 
Yours sincerely 
Shayne Hunter 
Deputy Director-General 
Data and Digital 


Released under the Official Information Act 1982
Table 1. Morbidity data  (Source: Hospital and Selected Morbidity data)
Publicly funded hospital discharges for selected conditions as a primary diagnosis
ICD10 Code
ICD-9 Code
Year
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
A01
002
Typhoid
12
19
12
10
9
27
N/A
N/A
N/A
2
11
14
A36
032
Diphtheria
6
0
0
0
0
7
N/A
N/A
N/A
0
0
0
A37
033
Whooping cough
63
42
144
107
58
221
N/A
N/A
N/A
254
130
41
A38, J02.0, J03.0
034
Streptococcal sore throat and scarlet fever
56
44
58
66
48
64
N/A
N/A
N/A
57
41
46
B01
052
Chickenpox
77
67
93
77
112
111
N/A
N/A
N/A
82
72
55
ICD10 Code
ICD-9 Code
Year
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
A01
002
Typhoid
9
8
5
7
6
30
4
18
13
1
9
17
A36
032
Diphtheria
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
A37
033
Whooping cough
39
570
137
17
63
339
79
11
59
127
328
130
A38, J02.0, J03.0
034
Streptococcal sore throat and scarlet fever
43
57
53
78
55
38
72
81
82
90
68
89
B01
052
Chickenpox
58
61
53
86
53
68
63
69
97
88
95
128
ICD10 Code
ICD-9 Code
Year
1993
1994
1995
1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99
1999/2000 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04
A01
002
Typhoid
3
16
13
8
15
18
13
14
25
26
19
24
A36
032
Diphtheria
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
A37
033
Whooping cough
107
44
181
548
198
59
78
352
360
150
128
142
A38, J02.0, J03.0
034
Streptococcal sore throat and scarlet fever
143
175
142
141
171
209
215
216
251
266
264
305
B01
052
Chickenpox
239
201
169
156
154
164
262
222
193
299
265
325
ICD10 Code
ICD-9 Code
Year
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
2011/12
2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16
A01
002
Typhoid
25
22
60
24
32
37
32
41
74
42
40
61
A36
032
Diphtheria
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
0
1
1
1
0
A37
033
Whooping cough
242
89
60
47
108
134
100
273
398
169
112
1
A38, J02.0, J03.0
034
Streptococcal sore throat and scarlet fever
301
267
280
333
304
317
366
429
393
389
415
573
B01
052
Chickenpox
279
274
342
316
345
332
424
378
338
381
360
374
Hospitalisation data from 1975-1977 was not published
Data changes from calendar years to financial years in 1995/1996 
Financial year runs from 1st July to 30th June

Released under the Official Information Act 1982
Table 2. Mortality data (Source: Mortality and Demographic data)
Deaths registered in 1968 - 1999

Year
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
052 Chickenpox
3
1
6
4
5
3
2
0
0
2
2
0
1
0
1
1
033 Whooping cough
1
0
0
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
0
0
032 Diphtheria
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
034 Streptococcal sore 
throat and scarlet fever

0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0020 Typhoid
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
Year
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
052 Chickenpox
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
4
2
0
0
1
0
0
1
033 Whooping cough
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
032 Diphtheria
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
034 Streptococcal sore 
throat and scarlet fever

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0020 Typhoid
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Deaths registered in 2000-
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
B01 Chickenpox
2
1
4
0
2
1
3
1
0
1
2
3
2
1
0
0
A37 Whooping cough
1
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
2
0
1
A36 Diphtheria
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
A38 Scarlet fever
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
A01 Typhoid
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1968-1999 uses ICD9 code
2000-2015 uses ICD-10-AM code
Published mortality data is currently only available up to 2015
Year refers to the year the death is registered, this maybe different to the year the death occurred