Drive to protect healthy hearts

Smoking, high cholestrol and obesity are all warning signs of a lifestyle that will lead to an unhealthy heart, and Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew has joined forces with the charity to raise more awareness around the issue.

More than half a million people in Yorkshire and the Humber region are living with either heart disease or circulatory disease, which is higher than the national average.

Of those surveyed by the BHF, just under half of people knew someone with high blood pressure, almost a quarter knew someone with high cholesterol while almost three in ten knew someone who is overweight or obese.

Elmet and Rothwell constituency had the worst prevelance of heart disease with 13.4 per cent of the population suffering from a heart related to condition, compared to 11 per cent of the national population.

The lowest prevelance of heart disease is in the constituency of Leeds Central at 7.4 per cent.

However, indicators of an unhealthy heart such as smoking are found to be highest in Leeds Central, where a third of people smoke.

Elmet and Rothwell and Leeds Central also have the highest numbers of people with coronary heart disease.

Dialysis patient Janice Richardson, 52, from Horsforth, Leeds, said she was backing the British Heart Foundation’s awareness campaign as she wants to let people know that 70 per cent of people on dialysis die from heart disease.

She said: “Dialysis puts a lot of pressure on the heart.”

Dr Mike Knapton, British Heart Foundation associate medical director, said: “Heart disease can strike anyone at any age, without warning.”