Changing mortality from ischaemic heart disease in Great Britain 1968-76.

Abstract

The decline in death rates from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in the United States is now well documented. Over-the period 1963-75 the drop in age-specific mortality varied from 27 2"O for those aged 35-44 to 193%o for the over-85s.1 Concurrent with these changes have been reductions in the consumption of tobacco products, milk and cream, butter, eggs, and animal fats and oils and an increase in the use of vegetable fats and oils.In England and Wales no similar encouraging change in IHD mortality has been described. In the Royal College of Physicians' report2 annual death rates for IHD in men aged 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 showed a pronounced increase from the period 1950-2 to 1973. There was, on the other hand, little change in the rates for women. Similar findings were presented for the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, the latter two having substantially higher rates than England and Wales.A detailed analysis of mortality from heart disease in England and Wales for the years 1950-73'3 4has confirmed the general upward trend for men even after allowing for the possibility of an iatrogenic transfer of diagnosis from the rubrics for hypertension and myocardial insufficiency to that of IHD.The mortality trends for women are less clear. Clayton et al3 concluded that no change in death rates took place during the period 1950-73 in women aged 50 and over, but that there was a consistent increase for young women. 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976

Is diet an essential risk factor for coronary heart disease?

“…This has now been checked and there may even have been a slight fall (Florey, Melia and Darby, 1978). Nevertheless the U.K. compares badly with other countries in which rates have been falling.…”