The Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) has raised serious concerns about the latest vital statistics from the Central Statistics Office, which showed an increase in the number of deaths from heart disease. The latest provisional figures from the CSO recorded 9,931 deaths in 2007 from circulatory diseases (including heart disease and stroke) compared to 9,662 in 2006.

According to the IHF, for the past 20 years the number of deaths from Ireland's biggest killer have fallen steadily. In 1984 heart disease accounted for 54 per cent of all deaths and this reduced to 36 per cent of all deaths by 2005. But the national charity fighting heart disease and stroke stressed the downward trend is in danger of being reversed due to growing societal problems like obesity, lack of physical activity, diabetes and hypertension.

Commenting on the figures Irish Heart Foundation Chief Executive Michael O'Shea said, "The latest CSO figures are provisional and may contain anomalies due to population growth, migration and other factors. But they still give cause for concern and may be an indication that the falling mortality rates from cardiovascular disease are beginning to reverse. To be effective in the fight against cardiovascular disease, society must take responsibility starting with the Government, food industry, Department of Transport, Department of Education, Department of Health and HSE, Department of Finance and parents."

Concluding he stressed that a lack of physical activity and smoking are two of the biggest detrimental impacts on heart health and both are preventable. "Not enough Irish people are taking adequate exercise and this combined with the consumption of the wrong types of food products, is causing our population to increase in weight. Meanwhile smokers have two to three times the risk of heart attack compared to non-smokers. Smoking causes a quarter of all coronary heart disease deaths and 11 per cent of stroke deaths," he said.

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