CVD-related fatalities in individuals under 75 years old are on the rise in the U.K. for the first time in five decades, the Guardian reported May 12.
The outlet said deaths from heart and circulatory diseases in under-75s totaled 42,384 in 2017—up from 41,042 just three years earlier. British Heart Foundation data found that between 2012 and 2017 CVD deaths in people under age 65 increased 4%, and in the same time frame premature death rates for CVD fell just 9%. The previous five-year period, they’d fallen 25%.
“We are deeply concerned by this reversal,” Simon Gillespie, chief executive at the BHF, told the Guardian. “We need to work in partnership with governments, the NHS and the medical research community to increase research investment and accelerate innovative approaches to diagnose and support the millions of people at risk of a heart attack or stroke.”
The BHF attributed the increase to a growing population of residents with heart disease and the wide reach of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The foundation said they want the U.K. to halve rates of premature death and disability from stroke and increase heart attack survival to 90% by 2030.
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.