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HomeWeekly RoundupHeart disease deaths soar in England during COVID pandemic

Heart disease deaths soar in England during COVID pandemic

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, almost 5,000 more people in England have died from heart problems than would be expected, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) has said, reports The Guardian.

According to 14 November 2020 article from the Press Association, the BHF said there had been 4,622 ‘excess deaths’ from heart and circulatory diseases between the start of the pandemic and mid-October.

As the COVID-19 second wave set in, the charity urged people not to put off seeking care. It has previously called for action after noticing that hundreds of relatively younger adults had been dying of heart problems in higher numbers than expected. The BHF calculated that in the under-65s alone there had been more than 800 additional deaths.

It said a number of factors could be behind the excess deaths, including:

  • People putting off seeking care for fear of “putting pressure” on the National Health Service.
  • People delaying seeking care for worrying symptoms for fear of contracting COVID-19 in health settings.
  • Delays to surgeries and routine heart care.

The BHF has said that in late March the number of people attending accident and emergency units with a suspected heart attack dropped by 50%, but it says numbers have since risen.

 

[link url="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/14/heart-disease-deaths-soar-in-england-COVID"]The Guardian – Heart disease deaths soar in England during COVID pandemic[/link]

 

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