The category Signs and Symptoms contains a range of disorders and diseases.

‘Signs’ refers to evidence of disease as perceived by a doctor; ‘symptoms’ refers to evidence of disease as perceived by the patient. In general this diagnosis of cause of death implies uncertainty on behalf of the person completing the death certificate.

The female map shows a cluster along the north east coast between Jarrow and Middlesbrough. Over the years that this atlas covers, an unusually high number of elderly women lived alone in the north east, often widows who had not remarried. Housing was plentiful, which also made living alone easier there – but simultaneously fewer women will have had partners who might query the diagnosis or encourage them to seek help earlier.

This group of causes of death includes symptoms, signs and abnormal test results as well as ill-defined conditions for which there is no diagnosis classification elsewhere. This could be because a person has less well-defined conditions and symptoms, or has multiple symptoms that might point to two or more diseases.