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Showing results for tags 'Coronary heart disease'.
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Content ArticleCardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels, including heart attacks, strokes, heart failure and other arterial and aortic diseases. The British Heart Foundation estimates that there are approximately 6.4 million people in England living with CVD (as at September 2024). In 2022, CVD contributed to a quarter of deaths in England. Local authorities have a statutory duty to commission NHS Health Checks – used to help prevent CVD – for their local eligible population. While DHSC provides funding to local authorities for Health Checks through the public health grant, and retains policy responsibility, local authorities. This report examines the effectiveness of the government‘s approach to identifying, preventing and managing CVD in England. It sets out: levels and trends in CVD in England the role of primary care in detecting and preventing CVD commissioning, delivery and performance on Health Checks wider public health work on preventing CVD.
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News ArticleLife expectancy improvement is stalling across Europe with England experiencing the biggest slowdown. Experts are blaming this on an alarming mix of poor diet, mass inactivity and soaring obesity. The average annual growth in life expectancy across the continent fell from 0.23 years between 1990 and 2011 to 0.15 years between 2011 and 2019, according to research published in the Lancet Public Health journal. Of the 20 countries studied, every one apart from Norway saw life expectancy growth fall. England suffered the largest decline in life expectancy improvement, with a fall in average annual improvement of 0.18 years, from 0.25 between 1990 and 2011 to 0.07 between 2011 and 2019. The second slowdown of life expectancy growth in Europe was in Northern Ireland (reducing by 0.16 years), followed by Wales and Scotland (both falling by 0.15 years). Sarah Price, NHS England’s director of public health, said: “This important study reinforces that prevention is the cornerstone of a healthier society, and is exactly why it will be such a key part of the 10-year health plan which we are working with [the] government on. “The slowdown in life expectancy improvements, particularly due to cardiovascular disease and cancer, highlights the urgent need for stronger action on the root causes – poor diet, physical inactivity, and obesity.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 February 2025
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Content ArticlePublicly available data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) shows a persistently high number of excess deaths involving cardiovascular disease (CVD) in England since the beginning of the pandemic. This analysis of by the British Heart Foundation looks at this situation in more detail. Key findings As of June 2023, there have been nearly 100,000 excess deaths in England involving CVD since the beginning of the pandemic. On average, there have been over 500 additional deaths a week involving CVD since the pandemic began. While deaths from Covid-19 have fallen year-on-year since the beginning of the pandemic, the number of deaths involving CVD have remained high above expected levels. Excess deaths involving CVD outnumber those involving all other individual disease areas since the beginning of the pandemic in England. In light of these findings, the British Heart Foundation is calling on the Government to: make NHS heart care a priority. improve prevention of heart disease and stroke. invest in research for treatments and cures.
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Content Article
The National Vascular Registry (NVR) has published a report on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on vascular surgery in the UK, presenting key findings from NVR data throughout 2020 and 2021. NVR previously reported on data as at 25 September 2020, which showed that Covid-19 infection in patients undergoing vascular surgical procedures significantly increased the risk of respiratory complications and mortality. Here, they update this analysis, using data through to the end of 2021, and explore whether the Covid-19 vaccination programme provided protection to patients against this life-threatening complication. One finding is that, between March 2020 and Dec 2021, confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were most common among non-elective procedures, ranging from 18.4% (non-elective AAA repair) to 27.5% (major lower limb amputation). For elective procedures, the reported rates of confirmed postoperative Covid-19 diagnoses were lower, ranging from 1.6% (elective AAA repair) to 4.1% (lower-limb bypass). Other key findings include: There was only a modest rise during the first Covid-19 wave (Mar-Jun 2020) with a larger rise during the second wave (Nov 2020-Feb 2021) There was a different pattern for respiratory complications after surgery, with higher rates observed in both wave 1 and wave 2 The period from March to December 2021 was associated with rates of respiratory complications and in-hospital postoperative mortality returning to levels observed pre-pandemic in 2019 Overall, the report concludes that the vaccination programme had a modest benefit to patients in reducing the risk of respiratory complications, and therefore carries a public health message relevant for both national and international audiences. -
News Article
Heart attacks at record level after pandemic
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Record numbers of people have been hospitalised with heart attacks in the wake of the pandemic, official figures show. On Tuesday, health chiefs will launch a campaign urging those with symptoms to seek help, with fears that too many cases are being detected too late. The new figures for England show that more than 84,000 patients were admitted to hospital because of a heart attack in 2021/22 – a rise of more than 7,000 in a year. It follows warnings that heart deaths have risen by more than 500 a week since the first lockdown, with a fall in the numbers prescribed vital medication amid struggles to access GP care. Health officials are afraid that people are still failing to come forward, adding to the collateral damage caused by the pandemic. From this week, an NHS advert will encourage people to call 999 as soon as they experience symptoms of a heart attack, such as squeezing across the chest, sweating and a feeling of uneasiness, so people have the best chance of survival. Prof Nick Linker, a cardiologist and NHS national clinical director for heart disease, said: “Cardiovascular disease causes one in four deaths across the country, so it is vital that people are aware of the early signs of a heart attack. Every moment that passes during a heart attack increases heart muscle damage, and nearly all of the damage takes place within the first few hours, so if you experience symptoms such as a sensation of squeezing or tightness across the chest alongside sweating, nausea, or a sense of unease, please call 999 so you have the best chance of a full recovery”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph, 15 August 2023 -
News ArticleAt the age of 49, Sarah Fisher feels her life is on a knife-edge. She had a heart attack during lockdown and has subsequently been diagnosed with heart failure. In July, she was told she needed to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted, which can shock the heart back into rhythm when it detects a potential cardiac arrest. But 12 weeks on, she is still waiting. "I could have a cardiac arrest at any point," Sarah says. "It is awful not knowing what is going to happen. "I am on the urgent list – but the infection rates are rising and the clinics are closing." "I don't know when I will get it. "There are so many people in my position – we don't have Covid but our lives are at risk too. We are the forgotten victims of this pandemic." British Heart Foundation analysis of Office for National Statistics data for England and Wales found almost 800 extra deaths from heart disease among under-65s from March to July - 15% more than would be expected. The rate of death was highest during the full lockdown - but, worryingly, the trend continued afterwards. The charity blames delays in people seeking care, as well as reduced access to routine tests and treatments. And NHS England figures show a sharp rise in the numbers waiting over six weeks for a whole range of key tests, including echocardiograms for hearts. Read full story Source: BBC News, 15 October 2020
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News ArticleTens of thousands of people avoided going to hospital for life-threatening illnesses such as heart attacks during Britain's coronavirus crisis, data has revealed. Shocking figures reveal that admissions for seven deadly non-coronavirus conditions between March and June fell by more than 173,000 on the previous year. Previous data for England shows there were nearly 6,000 fewer admissions for heart attacks in March and April compared with last year, and almost 137,000 fewer cancer admissions from March to June. Analysis by the Daily Mail found that the trends were alarmingly similar across the board for patients who suffered strokes, diabetes, dementia, mental health conditions and eating disorders. Health experts said the statistics were 'troubling' and warned that many patients may have died or suffered longterm harm as a result. Gbemi Babalola, senior analyst at the King's Fund think-tank said: "People with some of the most serious health concerns are going without the healthcare they desperately need. Compared with the height of the pandemic, the NHS is seeing an increase in the number of patients as services restart, and significant effort is going into new ways to treat and support patients." "But the fact remains that fewer people are being treated by NHS services." Read full story Source: Daily Mail, 13 September 2020
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News ArticleAround 5000 fewer people were admitted to hospitals in England for acute coronary syndrome than expected from January to the end of May this year, an analysis has shown. The results, published in the Lancet, indicate that many patients have missed out on lifesaving treatments during the COVID-19 outbreak. This decline started before the UK lockdown began on 23 March and “was qualitatively similar throughout the country, with only minor variations … in different demographic groups,” the authors wrote. Among patients admitted to hospital with acute myocardial infarction there was a “sustained increase in the proportion ... receiving [a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction] on the day of admission and a continued reduction in the median length of stay,” they added. “The reduced number of admissions … is likely to have resulted in increases in out-of-hospital deaths and long-term complications of myocardial infarction and missed opportunities to offer secondary prevention treatment for patients with coronary heart disease,” they concluded. Read full story Source: BMJ, 15 July 2020
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News ArticleThe COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically curtailed the provision of health services for non-communicable diseases, says a survey of 155 countries by the World Health Organization conducted over three weeks in May. In the survey poorer countries were the most likely to report disrupted services, but some 94% of responding countries had reassigned health ministry staff from work on NCDs to dealing with the pandemic. Hypertension treatment has been partially or completely disrupted in 53% of the countries surveyed, diabetes treatment in 49%, cancer treatment in 42%, and cardiovascular emergency responses in 31% of countries, the survey found. In the Netherlands, new cancer diagnoses have fallen by 25% since the pandemic lockdown began. In rural India, 30% fewer cardiac emergencies reached health facilities in March 2020 than the previous year. Rehabilitation services, which are often key to a healthy recovery after severe COVID-19, have been disrupted in 63% of countries surveyed. Screening campaigns have been put on hold in more than half. WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said, “The results of this survey confirm what we’ve been hearing from countries for a number of weeks now. Many people who need treatment for diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes have not been receiving the health services and medicines they need since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It’s vital that countries find innovative ways to ensure that essential services for NCDs continue, even as they fight COVID-19.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 3 June 2020
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News Article
Doctors using AI to predict heart attack risk more accurately
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
London doctors are using artificial intelligence to predict which patients with chest pains are at greatest risk of death. A trial at Barts Heart Centre, in Smithfield, and the Royal Free Hospital, in Hampstead, found that poor blood flow was a “strong predictor” of heart attack, stroke and heart failure. Doctors used computer programmes to analyse images of the heart from more than 1,000 patients and cross-referenced the scans with their health over the next two years. The computers were “taught” to search for indicators of future “adverse cardiovascular outcomes” and are now used in a real-time basis to help doctors identify who is most at risk. Read full story Source: Evening Standard, 15 February 2020 -
Content Article
What's your heart age? NHS Health Check
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Heart conditions
A new study by Staffordshire University shows that people who understand their ‘heart age’ are more likely to make healthy lifestyle changes. 50 preventable deaths from heart attack or stroke happen every day and Public Health England’s online Heart Age Test (HAT) allows users to compare their real age to the predicted age of their heart. The tool aims to provide early warning signs of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, encouraging members of the public to reduce their heart age through diet and exercise and to take up the offer of an NHS Health Check. -
Content ArticleThis report summarises some of the key findings from the full 2020 National Cardiac Audit Programme (NCAP). It provides useful background information and highlights what you can do to help improve cardiac health for you and your friends and family. It includes answers to some frequently asked questions and links to where to go for more information or support. The report covers: Heart attack (myocardial infarction) Percutaneous coronary intervention Aortic valve replacements Adult cardiac surgery Heart failure Arrhythmia (cardiac rhythm management) Congenital heart disease COVID-19 and its impact on cardiovascular care.
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News Article
Multiple deaths due to care delays highlighted in damning CQC report
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Dozens of patients died or suffered ‘severe harm’ after long waits for ambulances during a three-month period in a health system facing ‘extreme pressure’ on its emergency services. The 29 serious incidents in Cornwall included patients waiting many hours for assistance despite being in “extreme pain”, patients having suspected sepsis, patients in cardiac arrest, and patients experiencing a stroke. The incidents were reported to the Care Quality Commission by staff at South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust during an inspection of the Cornwall integrated care system’s urgent and emergency care services. According to the CQC, the pressures on the ambulance service were “unrelenting”, while “significant work” was needed to “alleviate extreme pressure”. This meant there was a “high level of risk to people’s health when trying to access urgent and emergency care in the county”, the report said. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 27 May 2022 -
Content ArticleIn this briefing the British Heart Foundation highlights the stark inequalities in awareness, diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks that are leading to women needlessly dying every day in the UK.
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Content Article
Data saves lives - a series of animations
Claire Cox posted an article in Data and insight
Understanding Patient Data has produced a series of animations to explain how data saves lives. Following the journeys of patients with cancer, a heart attack, diabetes, dementia and asthma, they show the huge range of ways data is used to improve care, and the safeguards that are in place to protect confidentiality. Better use of data is essential to speed up diagnosis, research new treatments, plan better NHS services and monitor the safety of drugs. And yet, more than two thirds of the population feel they don’t know how patient data is used in the NHS. These animations have been developed in partnership with charities, patients and clinicians. Find out why and how patient data is used. -
Content ArticleSublingual nitroglycerin (Nitrostat) is a nitrate vasodilator used to treat episodes of chest pain in patients who have coronary artery disease. The tablets are supplied in small, amber bottles that are tightly capped to keep out light, moisture, and air. The loss of potency from environmental exposure often prevents repackaging of the tablets from a multidose bottle into single doses. Therefore, without single doses pre-packaged ahead of time and proper safeguards to warn against the multidose bottle, an overdose of up to 25 times the intended dose can occur. This study examines reports to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) describing unintended dispensing and administration of whole bottle contents. These incidents have resulted in patients needing to be resuscitated and transfer to a higher level of care.
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Content ArticleDecades of steady improvements in life expectancy in Europe slowed down from around 2011, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, for reasons which remain disputed. We aimed to assess how changes in risk factors and cause-specific death rates in different European countries related to changes in life expectancy in those countries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The countries that best maintained improvements in life expectancy after 2011 (Norway, Iceland, Belgium, Denmark, and Sweden) did so through better maintenance of reductions in mortality from cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, underpinned by decreased exposures to major risks, possibly mitigated by government policies. The continued improvements in life expectancy in these five countries during 2019–21 indicate that these countries were better prepared to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast, countries with the greatest slowdown in life expectancy improvements after 2011 went on to have some of the largest decreases in life expectancy in 2019–21. These findings suggest that government policies that improve population health also build resilience to future shocks. Such policies include reducing population exposure to major upstream risks for cardiovascular diseases and neoplasms, such as harmful diets and low physical activity, tackling the commercial determinants of poor health, and ensuring access to affordable health services.
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Content ArticleDiagnostic errors are a known patient safety concern across all clinical settings, including the emergency department (ED). The authors from the John Hopkins University conducted a systematic review to determine the most frequent diseases and clinical presentations associated with diagnostic errors (and resulting harms) in the ED, measured error and harm frequency, as well as assessing causal factors. Although estimated ED error rates are low (and comparable to those found in other clinical settings), the number of patients potentially impacted is large. Not all diagnostic errors or harms are preventable, but wide variability in diagnostic error rates across diseases, symptoms, and hospitals suggests improvement is possible. With 130 million U.S. ED visits, estimated rates for diagnostic error (5.7%), misdiagnosis-related harms (2.0%), and serious misdiagnosis-related harms (0.3%) could translate to more than 7 million errors, 2.5 million harms, and 350,000 patients suffering potentially preventable permanent disability or death. Over two-thirds of serious harms are attributable to just 15 diseases and linked to cognitive errors, particularly in cases with "atypical" manifestations. Scalable solutions to enhance bedside diagnostic processes are needed, and these should target the most commonly misdiagnosed clinical presentations of key diseases causing serious harms. New studies should confirm overall rates are representative of current U.S.-based ED practice and focus on identified evidence gaps (errors among common diseases with lower-severity harms, paediatric ED errors and harms, dynamic systems factors such as overcrowding, and false positives). Policy changes to consider based on this review include: Standardising measurement and research results reporting to maximise comparability of measures of diagnostic error and misdiagnosis-related harms. Creating a National Diagnostic Performance Dashboard to track performance Using multiple policy levers (e.g., research funding, public accountability, payment reforms) to facilitate the rapid development and deployment of solutions to address this critically important patient safety concern.
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Content ArticleThe Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Audit (CVDPREVENT) is a national primary care audit that automatically extracts routinely held GP data. This tool provides open access to the data, with clear, actionable insights for those tasked with improving cardiovascular health in England.
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Content ArticleThis is the first annual report for CVDPREVENT, an audit commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). It presents analysis of data recorded by GPs up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline for indicators of cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention. The analysis focuses on understanding variation in identification, diagnosis and management of people at risk of CVD against metrics of deprivation, age, sex, and ethnicity. There has also been further analysis undertaken on comorbidities amongst those with conditions that put them at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
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Content ArticleIn this interview with Dr. Robert Mentz, Editor-in-Chief and Dr. Anu Lala, Deputy Editor at the Journal of Cardiac Failure, Kristin and Will Flanary (AKA Lady and Dr. Glaucomflecken) share their experience as co-patient and patient. Will suffered a cardiac arrest in May 2020 and the experience of discovering her husband, having to perform CPR and waiting in isolation for news left his wife Kristin with significant trauma. The interview explores the experience of those involved in medical trauma who are not the patient themselves, the 'co-patient', and the ways in which healthcare professionals can support them to process their experience. Further reading Blog by Kristin Flanary: The Quiet Place (15 November 2021)
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News ArticleA new study by Staffordshire University shows that people who understand their ‘heart age’ are more likely to make healthy lifestyle changes. 50 preventable deaths from heart attack or stroke happen every day and Public Health England’s online Heart Age Test (HAT) allows users to compare their real age to the predicted age of their heart. The tool aims to provide early warning signs of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, encouraging members of the public to reduce their heart age through diet and exercise and to take up the offer of an NHS Health Check. CHAD Research Associate Dr Victoria Riley, who led the study, said: “Deaths from heart attack or stroke are often preventable and so addressing health issues early is incredibly important. Our findings show that pre-screening tests, such as the HAT, can encourage individuals to evaluate their lifestyle choices and increase their intentions to change behaviour.” Read full story Source: Brigher Side of News, 10 October 2021
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Content ArticleIn this article for Stylist, Sarah Graham, founder of the Hysterical Women blog, looks at the statistics around gender and heart attacks and gender. She highlights the worrying disparities and argues that sexism plays a dangerous role. The term Yentl Syndrome is used to describe the different ways men and women are treated after heart attacks.
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Content Article
The Yentl syndrome is alive and well (March 2011)
PatientSafetyLearning Team posted an article in Women's health
More women than men die annually from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in the developed world. This represents a reversal of fortune from previous decades and places women firmly as the new majority now impacted. Notably, the adverse IHD gender gap is the widest in relatively young women, where myocardial infarction (MI) mortality is 2-fold higher in women under 50 years compared with age-matched men. While it is now clear that there are many gender differences in IHD outcomes, including more frequent angina diagnosis, more office visits, more avoidable hospitalisations, higher MI mortality, and higher rates of heart failure in women compared with men, the aetiologies contributing to these differences are less clear. This article, published by the European Heart Journal, questions whether we have a sufficient fund of knowledge to close the persistent gender gap in IHD and vanquish the Yentl syndrome to history. While increasing knowledge exists regarding pathophysiological mechanistic pathways for ‘female-pattern IHD’, translational studies aimed at developing practical diagnosis and therapeutics with both traditional and novel treatments are needed. Further closure of knowledge gaps related to the paradox and the pathophysiology of IHD in women is one of our highest priorities to improve the health of the 51% of the population that is female and represent currently the majority of deaths.
