Heart Attacks Strike Every 20 Minutes

New statistics from the British Heart Foundation have revealed that nearly 10,000 people across the UK suffer a fatal heart attack before reaching the age of 65.

The BHF says more research is urgently needed to save lives and combat the main cause of heart attacks; coronary heart disease (CHD)

Heart conditions, including heart attacks, can suddenly devastate families across the country on a daily basis. New research, released today, has revealed that heart attacks kill nearly 200 people under 65 every week. The research, released by The British Heart Foundation, estimates that 1110 people across Scotland below retirement age suffered a fatal heart attack in 2014.

A heart attack strikes someone every three minutes in this country and around a third of all heart attacks are fatal. The new figures reveal that there were almost 188,000 heart attacks treated in UK hospitals in 2013/2014, up from 177,000 the year before.

Although figures remain high, medical research, much of it funded by the BHF, has significantly improved heart attack survival rates through better diagnosis and treatment. However, the BHF, the UK’s largest independent funder of cardiovascular research, says more research is urgently needed to save lives and combat the main cause of heart attacks; coronary heart disease.

Around 2.3 million people in the UK are living with coronary heart disease, and it remains the UK’s single biggest killer.