UK records highest annual cardiovascular deaths since 2008
The rate at which people are dying early from heart and circulatory diseases has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, figures show.
Data analysed by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) shows a reverse of previous falling trends when it comes to people dying from heart problems before the age of 75 in England.
Since 2020, the premature death rate for cardiovascular disease has risen year-on-year, with the latest figures for 2022 showing it reached 80 per 100,000 people in England in 2022 – the highest rate since 2011 when it was 83.
This is the first time there has been a clear reversal in the trend for almost 60 years.
Between 2012 and 2019 progress slowed and, from 2020, premature death rates began to clearly rise, the data reveals.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at the BHF and a consultant cardiologist, said: “We’re in the grip of the worst heart care crisis in living memory.
“Every part of the system providing heart care is damaged, from prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and recovery; to crucial research that could give us faster and better treatments.
“This is happening at a time when more people are getting sicker and need the NHS more than ever.
“I find it tragic that we’ve lost hard-won progress to reduce early death from cardiovascular disease.”
Source: Medscape, 22 January 2024