Heart deaths slump
Thursday January 26th, 2012
Death rates from heart attack have dramatically slumped in England in the last decade, according to an analysis published today.
Death
rates have halved - and half the reduction is because there have been
fewer heart attacks, experts said.
The other half is because of improved treatment of victims, meaning that many more people survive the illness.
The findings come from a study of some 860,000 heart attack cases occurring between 2002 and 2010, reported in the British Medical Journal.
The researchers led by Professor Michael Goldacre, of Oxford University, UK, say the reduction in heart attacks reflects the success of efforts to prevent heart disease.
The British Heart Foundation said there was still scope to improve survival from heart attacks by spreading the use of hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Medical director Professor Peter Weissberg 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.
"But far too many heart attack victims still die from a cardiac arrest before medical help arrives."
But a second study last night warned that success in promoting lifestyle changes may be creating a "false sense of security".
Researchers say that middle-aged people may face a high risk in later life - even if they carry no more than two risk factors.
The US-based study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, warns that too much research focuses on improvements over five or ten years.
The long-term research suggests that avoiding one risk factor, such as smoking, does not reduce the risk linked to another risk factor, such as high blood pressure, the researchers say.
New England Journal of Medicine January 25 2012
Tags: Heart Health | UK News
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