Study finds a decline in heart attacks over 20 years, but rising BMIs may reverse this in the future
9 June 2011Better control of cholesterol levels and blood pressure and a decline in smoking have contributed to a 74% drop in the risk of heart attack among nearly 10,000 civil servants working in London over a 20-year period, according to new research published in European Heart Journal.
However, the reduction would have been even greater were it not for the fact that more people became fatter during this time, and this rise in body mass index (BMI) accounted for an estimated 11% increased risk of heart attack over the same period.
Read the paper: Rising adiposity curbing decline in the incidence of myocardial infarction: 20-year follow-up of British man and women in the Whitehall II cohort.
Published in European Heart Journal, Advance Access, 9 June 2011.
Read the press release here.
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