Every day in the UK almost 600 people die from heart and circulatory disease – it’s our biggest killer. Coronary heart disease alone takes the lives of one in five men and one in six women. Developments in – and improved access to – both diagnosis and medical treatment have steadily improved survival since the 1970s. But this also means new challenges, with more and more people now living with coronary heart disease: currently 2.6 million in the UK. And while we may think heart disease only strikes adults, about 4,600 UK babies are born every year with heart defects. 

It is therefore unsurprising that several AMRC members have heart and circulatory disease research as their focus, and that others fund it as part of a more general portfolio.

Two rather unusual stories are told below, from the British Heart Foundation and Heart Research UK, while important work is also being funded by other members, including the Circulation Foundation, the Hypertension Trust, the William Harvey Research Foundation and two regionally-focused members, Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, and Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association (NICHSA). 

Quality of life 

With work ranging from studies on the pathophysiology of heart disease – what goes wrong that causes it – to projects on the prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and social impact of chest, heart and stroke illness, these charities all strive to improve the quality of life of people affected by these conditions.

Alongside this, they help to ensure that messages about the ways in which people can protect themselves against heart disease are clearly communicated, and, when necessary, they lobby government to invest in making more efficient methods of treatment available to those in need within a reasonable timescale.