200 a year dying prematurely from heart attacks in Shropshire and Mid Wales
More than 200 people in Shropshire and Mid Wales are dying early of heart attacks each year because of poor health, figures have revealed.
Unhealthy lifestyle and consuming too much fatty food is a major cause of coronary heart disease – the biggest cause of heart attacks, the British Heart Foundation said.
Shropshire has the highest rate in the region, with an annual average from 2011-13 of 117 premature deaths due to a heart attack amongst those aged 75 and under.
This is followed by Telford and Wrekin with 63 and Powys with 53.
Heart attacks kill nearly 2,100 people prematurely each year in the West Midlands, with the British Heart Foundation estimating that more than 22,000 people under the age of 75 suffering a fatal attack.
Researchers say that coronary heart disease is the biggest cause.
Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "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 new ways 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."
Simon Gillespie, chief executive of the British Heart Foundation, added: "Every week heart attacks devastate hundreds of families across the UK, by killing loved ones at an early age and leaving many others with debilitating heart conditions that make the rest of their life a daily struggle.
"The only way we can find new ways to prevent and treat heart attacks is by funding more research.
"Thanks to the generous donations of our supporters, much of the research we've funded over the last 50 years is today helping to save and improve lives."
Around 200,000 people in the West Midlands are living with coronary heart disease and it remains the UK's biggest killer.
