The number of people dying in the UK from heart and circulatory disease before they reach the age of 75 is increasing for the first time in 50 years according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
There were 42,384 deaths of under 75s caused by the disease in 2017 compared with 41,042 in 2014. BHF says the increasing rates of diabetes and obesity are partly responsible.
Heart and circulatory disease remains a leading cause of death in the UK, millions are at risk due to conditions such as high blood pressure.
Simon Gillespie, the chief executive at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: “We are deeply concerned by this reversal. Heart and circulatory diseases remain a leading cause of death in the UK, with millions at risk because of conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.
“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.”
According to BHF, more than 14 million adults have high blood pressure but nearly 5 million do not know it because they have not been diagnosed.
BHF said a slow down in the rate of improvement in death rates combined with a growing population is partly to blame.
Tam Fry, from the campaign group the National Obesity Forum, said: “This must make Whitehall sit up and take tackling obesity seriously though each government this century has made just that a priority.
“It has set dramatic sounding targets but none have been met and quite probably the call to ” shift the dial ” by 2030 will not be met either.”
He added: “The bold leadership that will be key to any success is just not there and, until it is, we will continue to read similar catalogues of woe for years to come. “Decades of inaction has led us to this but, even if we do get action, it’ll be well into the 2030s before we see achievement.”
