Why Your Heart Needs TLC

My Weekly’s favourite GP from TV and radio writes for you

- Dr Sarah Jarvis

 

Death rates from heart disease are dropping, but cardiovascular disease still kills more Britons than any other condition. While women may be at lower risk, they’re by no means immune.

The good news is that, in 1961 there were 166,000 deaths from heart disease in the UK. Today that’s dropped to 66,000, but there’s no room for complacency. The number of folk alive who’ve suffered a heart attack is higher today than 60 years ago – largely down to improved survival rates.

Heart attack rates in Scotland remain stubbornly 30-40% higher than in England, and heart disease kills more than twice as many women as breast cancer.