BHF comment
New online tool can pinpoint cardiovascular health inequalities in your area
A free interactive tool we've developed with the Strategy Unit could help to deepen our understanding of cardiovascular health inequalities in England.
For the first time, analysts have identified with pinpoint accuracy where socio-economic inequities lie across the treatment pathway for coronary heart disease in England, from risk factor identification and prevention, through to diagnosis, treatment, and death rates.
The online tool allows the user to navigate the detailed findings of this new analysis at Integrated Care Board (ICB) level across more than 30 different metrics including access to cardiac rehabilitation and emergency hospital admissions.
The tool gives the “clearest picture yet” of socio-economic cardiovascular health inequalities in England.
We hope the data will be used to inform policy decisions that could one day help to reduce or even eliminate cardiovascular health inequalities. This could help to narrow the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas of England.
Latest analysis suggests that progress in tackling cardiovascular disease death rates has been slower in the most deprived areas compared to the least.
The new tool can be found on our website as part of a new online hub designed to be a “one-stop-shop” for the newest research and insight on cardiovascular health inequalities.
The hub gives an overview of a new analysis of 1.5 billion records from English datasets, which has examined trends over time. Some key findings include:
• Premature deaths are more likely amongst patients from the most deprived areas,
• Higher hospital admission rates for emergency care in the most deprived areas,
• Patients from the least deprived areas are more likely to receive preventative healthcare like flu vaccines, medications and elective procedures.
Kate Cheema, our Director of Health Insights, said: “Cardiovascular disease is a major driver of deep-rooted yet largely avoidable health inequalities.
"For the first time, this free and easy-to-use online tool makes it possible to identify exactly where inequities exist along the cardiovascular disease pathway at a local level.
"This could help focus efforts to address the most significant and urgent gaps between cardiovascular health and wealth, which could ultimately save lives.”
Steven Wyatt, Head of Research and Policy at the Strategy Unit, said: “Socio-economic inequalities in cardiovascular disease are substantial and persistent.
"We hope this tool will help local health systems target their efforts to reduce these inequalities by providing them with detailed information about where inequalities emerge and develop along the disease pathway.”