Heart attack deaths halve in last decade
10 Apr 2012 by Evoluted New Media
The number of deaths in England caused by heart attacks has halved in the last decade say researchers from the University of Oxford.
The study used national hospital and mortality data for over 840,000 people in England who’d had heart attacks between 2002 and 2010. It found that there were fewer heart attacks in the last decade, and fewer of these were fatal compared with earlier years.
“These are big success stories for public health and for the NHS,” said Kate Smolina, first author of the study published in the British Medical Journal.
“Over half of the decline in deaths from heart attacks can be attributed to a decline in the actual occurrence of the attacks, and just under half to improvements in survival after attacks,” said Dr Mike Rayner.
Rayner said the findings are good news and shows that prevention works – but that there is still more to be done. Although death rates for heart attacks fell by 50% in men and 53% in women, the greatest decline was seen in the middle-aged – with little decline in rates among younger and older adults.
“There is evidence from this paper and elsewhere that the decline in deaths is slowing – particularly in younger age groups,” said Rayner, who blames obesity and diabetes for a lack of improvement in the occurrence of heart attacks in the younger generation.
He attributes the decline in heart attack deaths to less smoking, and improvements in diet and nutrition, particularly in the type of fat people consume.
Lead author Professor Michael Goldacre says some of these changes in lifestyle and a substantial fall in the incidence of heart attacks started before the period covered by the study. Drugs for high cholesterol or raised blood pressure will also have had a beneficial effect, although many came into used after the decline in deaths started. Better hospital care will also have played some role.
