Government drive to reduce heart deaths in young

Health Secretary John Reid has launched a new drive to reduce the number of deaths from unexpected and sudden cardiac death syndrome.

Around 400 young and apparently healthy people die each year from Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.

The new measures, part of the National Framework for Coronary Heart Disease, includes recommendations to introduce genetic testing in cases where a sudden unexplained cardiac death occurs, since the condition is largely inherited. Patients would be fitted with a high-tech implant if they were found to be at risk of the condition.

Commenting on the measures at the Coronary Heart Disease Collaborative Conference in Birmingham, Mr Reid said: "It is devastating for families when a young and seemingly healthy person dies without warning. Screening family members will help to prevent these tragic and unnecessary deaths."

Alison Cox, Chief Executive of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), said: "CRY welcomes today's announcement and believes this is a good start towards gaining wider access to screening for young people. Too many young people are still needlessly dying from these tragic conditions and we will continue to work alongside the government to ensure we achieve greater awareness, improved diagnosis and screening. This disease cannot be cured - but it can be treated and ultimately prevented if diagnosed in time."

The new measures also include plans to improve treatment for cardiac arrhythmias – irregular heartbeats, which affect over 700,000 people in England and cause one third of all strokes.

Mr Reid said: "Today's report shows that we have the capacity to go even further to better the lives of people with heart disease. We can now introduce measures to improve diagnosis, treatment and support for the 700,000 people who suffer from palpitations, loss of consciousness, dizziness and breathlessness associated with arrhythmia."

A progress report on the government's progress on tackling the problem of heart disease in the last five years, 'Leading The Way', has also been published and the Health Secretary said that it showed that "remarkable progress" had been made. He told the conference: "We have come a very long way in the first five years of our strategy for heart disease. Death rates in the under 75s have fallen by more than 27% since 1996. On treatment, we are seeing an historic growth in prescribing drugs for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which is estimated to be saving 9,000 lives each year. And, by the end of this month, we expect that no-one will wait more than three months for a heart operation."

The report also set out a new focus for improving rehabilitation services and care for people with heart failure over the next five years.

(KMcA/SP)