The aims of this study were to describe the pattern of excess winter mortality and emergency hospital admissions in the South Yorkshire Coalfields Health Action Zone, and to examine the relationship between excess winter mortality and emergency hospital admissions and socio-economic deprivation at the enumeration district level. We analysed monthly deaths from 1981 to 1999 and monthly emergency hospital admissions from 1990 to 1999 for cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and all other causes of death for people aged 45 years and above. We used the enumeration district level Townsend socio-economic deprivation score to categorize enumeration districts by quintile. Excess winter mortality ratios (observed/expected) for females and males, respectively, were 1.70 and 1.58 for respiratory disease, 1.25 and 1.20 for cardiovascular disease, and 1.09 and 1.07 for all other causes of death. The excess winter hospital admission ratio for respiratory disease was 1.80 for females and 1.58 for males. No excess was evident for the other two groups of conditions. We found no significant increase in excess winter mortality ratios with increasing socio-economic deprivation. There was also no significant increase in the excess winter respiratory admission ratio with increasing deprivation. With regard to age, we found P<0.0001 and for all other diseases P>0.001 and also in the excess winter hospital admission ratio for respiratory disease P<0.0001 With regard to sex, the excess ratios were lower in men than in women for both respiratory mortality P<0.05 and respiratory hospital admissions P<0.0001 We also observed that excess winter mortality ratios decreased significantly over the 18-year period for cardiovascular disease P<0.05 and for all other diseases P<0.05. Our results suggest that measures to reduce excess winter mortality should be implemented on a population-wide basis and not limited to socio-economically deprived areas. There may also be a case for tailoring interventions to specifically meet the needs of older people.