All news
Study shows heart attack death rate has halved
January 27, 2012
There have been significant improvements in the number of heart attacks and related deaths in England.
The number of people dying from heart attacks in England has halved since 2002, according to a new study.
Researchers at Oxford University analysed data on more than 840,000 patients who were admitted to hospital or died suddenly following a heart attack between 2002 and 2010.
They found that the death rate from heart attacks fell by 50 per cent in men and by 53 per cent in women during that period.
There was also a 33 per cent drop in the occurrence of heart attacks in men, and a 31 per cent decrease in women.
The findings are published in the British Medical Journal and were welcomed by Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the research.
He said: "This impressive fall in death rates is due partly to prevention of heart attacks by better management of risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and due partly to better treatment of heart attack patients when they reach hospital."
Health minister Simon Burns also welcomed the improvements, but conceded that some areas "still lag behind".
Private Health Insurance News
