by Heart Disease: Overview, Causes, Risk Factors, Treatment, Prevention on January 27, 2012
The death rate from heart attack in England has halved in the last decade, claims a research paper published today in the British Medical Journal.
Compared with earlier years, the study found there were fewer heart attacks in the last decade and fewer of these were fatal.
Several studies have already investigated changes in deaths from heart attack in many countries around the world, but reasons for the decline in deaths in England are still not known. Researchers from the University of Oxford set out to identify the possible causes of this reduction.
Using national hospital and mortality data, they looked at 840,175 men and women in England who had suffered from a total of 861,134 heart attacks between 2002 and 2010. Overall, the death rates for heart attacks fell by 50% in men and 53% in women.
by Heart Disease: Overview, Causes, Risk Factors, Treatment, Prevention on January 26, 2012
Sophia Antipolis, 25 January 2012: European Society of Cardiology extends its scientific activities beyond Europe and into the emerging regions of the world
While the rapid improvement in socio-economic conditions is thought responsible for the high rates of cardiovascular disease in the Gulf states, deep-rooted cultural factors also play a part. “We’re sitting on a time bomb,” says Professor Hani Najm, Vice-President of the Saudi Heart Association, whose annual conference begins Friday 27 January. “We will see a lot of heart disease over the next 15 to 20 years. Already, services are saturated. We now have to direct our resources to the primary prevention of risk factors throughout the entire Middle East.”
World Health Organization figures show that up to 60% of males in Arab countries and up to 70% of females are overweight and obese. Prevalence rates of diabetes and hypertension are around 25%, while inactivity rates among the over-20s are even higher. But the explanation, says Professor Najm, is not just rapid urbanisation and ubiquitous travel by car. There are, in addition, many social and cultural barriers to exercise, especially among women, who find it difficult to find the opportunities and encouragement to take organised exercise.
