June 12, 2012
Closing inequality gap key to tackling heart and circulatory
disease
An examination of heart disease trends has identified a
fall in death rates but a persisting problem with inequalities.
Find out how we're
tackling inequalities
The research looked at death rates
from heart disease in England between 2000 and 2007 and
found rates fell from 229 to 147 deaths per 100,000 – a decrease of
36 per cent. Researchers say around half the decrease was down to
improved treatment uptake.
But any improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking
and physical activity were negated by an
increase in body mass index and diabetes
in the most deprived socioeconomic groups.
Obesity and diabetes are risking the lives of too many people in the most deprived communities, and that has to change
Doireann Maddock, our
Senior Cardiac Nurse, said: “More people, no matter where they live
or how much they earn, are now taking advantage of the treatment on
offer to heart patients. That change has had a
substantial
and welcome effect on the numbers dying from
heart disease.
“But the problem we still face is that
obesity and diabetes are risking the lives of too
many people in the most deprived communities, and that has to
change.
“There has already been a considerable
reduction in cardiovascular deaths over the last decade but not
everyone has benefitted equally. Inequalities are a key
challenge for the forthcoming
Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy and the Government
must make closing the inequality gap the key test for success for
the new strategy.”
The study into heart disease death rates was
published in the PLoS Medicine.