Deaths from heart attacks reduced to half as treatment improves

London, December 26 (ANI): New statistics have revealed that deaths from heart attacks have halved in just eight years due to healthier lifestyles and better treatment.

Despite the massive drop in deaths from heart attacks, the rate in the UK remains one of the highest in Europe, according to figures from the British Heart Foundation.

Between 2002 and 2010 the death rate in men fell from 78.7 deaths per 100,000 men to 39.2 deaths per 100,000 men.

Over the same period there was a drop from 37.3 deaths per 100,000 women 2002 to 17.7 deaths per 100,000 women in 2010, the figures revealed.

The reasons are that fewer people are now smoking and millions of people are taking preventive drugs such as blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering statins.

In addition there are better treatments, in the form of operations and drugs, for those who do suffer a heart attack, increasing their chances of surviving.

Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, credits excellent progress in heart attack prevention, treatment and care behind the dramatic reduction in the number of people dying from heart disease, the Telegraph reported.

But the British Heart Foundation coronary heart disease statistics compendium 2012 showed that in England in 2002 more than 42 per cent of people died from their heart attack, compared with just under 30 per cent in 2010. (ANI)