'Rapid decline' in heart health

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People’s heart health in the UK has declined more quickly at the start of the 2020s than any other decade for more than 50 years, figures suggest.

Analysis by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) found rising deaths among working-age adults from cardiovascular disease, increasing heart failure and growing risks from obesity and diabetes.

Cardiovascular deaths in working age adults have risen by 18% since 2019, from 18,693 to 21,975 in 2023, averaging 420 a week.

Since 2020, the BHF has found a "worrying trend", including:

- A 21% rise in the number of people diagnosed with heart failure in the UK, to a record high of 785,000 in March 2024 from 650,000 in March 2020;