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The number of people being diagnosed with heart failure in the UK continues to grow, and the poorest people are significantly more likely to be affected by the condition, new research from The George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford has found.

electrocardiogram

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

The study, published in The Lancet, shows that not only are people in the most deprived socio-economic groups about 60% more likely to be affected by heart failure, but that the gap between the richest and the poorest didn’t close at all between 2002 and 2014.

People in the poorest neighbourhoods are likely to be affected by heart failure about 3.5 years earlier in life than those in the wealthiest areas (at an average age of 74.5, compared with 78). Disparities between different socio-economic groups actually grew during the study period, with the age at which heart failure is diagnosed rising for the most affluent, but dropping slightly among the most deprived.

Read more (University of Oxford website)