Coronary heart disease – three little words that spell out one big problem – and one which isn’t going away.

Humankind may have made massive medical advancements but the sad truth is premature heart attacks (affecting those under 75) are still killing 190 people a day in this country and almost 2,000 people in the east of England each year.

A heart attack strikes someone every three minutes in the UK – with almost 188,000 people treated in UK hospitals last year.

This figure is up from 175,000 the year before. Despite improvements in treatment and diagnosis, around a third of heart attacks are fatal.

As the British Heart Foundation launches a new campaign to highlight how heart attack can suddenly devastate families across the country on a daily basis, the charity has also released statistics showing how each borough fairs when it comes to premature heart attack victims.

The data reveals that Tendring has the highest number of premature heart attack deaths in the whole of Essex for the period between 2011 and 2013 – with 68 in total.

Colchester also has one of the highest figures in the county with a total of 56 premature deaths, compared to 43 in Braintree and the relatively low amount of 18 in Maldon.

Gazette:

The highest number in the east of England was in Luton where 89 people died in the same time period of premature heart attacks. The lowest was in Uttlesford where just 15 people aged under 75 died from a fatal heart attack.

Although figures remain high there is a positive spin. Medical research, much of it funded by the British Heart Foundation, has significantly improved heart attack survival rates through better diagnosis and treatments.

However, the foundation – which funds more than £44million of research in our region – says more research is urgently needed to save more lives and combat the main cause of heart attack – coronary heart disease (CHD).

Around 200,000 people in the East of England are living with CHD and it remains the UK’s single biggest killer but the problem is we understand remarkably little about atherosclerosis – the process that causes narrowing of the coronary arteries and potentially fatal heart attacks.

Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, explained: “Through medical research, we’ve made great progress in saving the lives of people suffering from heart attacks. But we mustn’t be lulled into thinking we’ve beaten the disease. Every year thousands of people are still dying from heart attacks, and coronary heart disease remains the UK’s single biggest killer.

“We urgently need to fund more research to find newways to prevent and treat heart attacks, and ultimately, save more lives. Despite knowing some of the lifestyle and genetic factors that increase the risk of heart attack, we still have no way to stop the furring of the arteries in coronary heart disease that is responsible for causing so many heart attacks. This is a challenge that only research can provide the answer to.”