Heart Disease trends

In England, over the past 10-15 years, mortality from heart disease has been falling steadily. Although a similar trend has been seen across the North West Region, deaths from heart disease remain significantly higher than for the country as a whole and ten years ago, deaths in Wirral were also significantly higher. Since then, however, there has been an almost 50% fall in mortality so that today, death rates from heart disease in Wirral are similar to those of England as a whole and significantly lower than the North West average (see figure 3). Despite this improvement, marked differences exist across the Wirral.

Figure 3. Age-standardised mortality rates per 100,000 population 65-75 from CHD for England, the North West and Wirral, 1987-1997

The CHD Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) for Wirral is 100 (the same as that for England and Wales). The SMR for Birkenhead PCG is 115. This means that there are 15% more deaths from CHD in Birkenhead than the England average. For Wallasey PCG, the SMR is 105 (5% more deaths) and for Bebington & West Wirral PCT, the SMR is 83 (17% fewer deaths than the England average). At ward level, the SMR for CHD varies from 125 (25% higher than the England average) in Tranmere to 75 (25% below the England average) in Heswall (see figure 4).

Figure 4. CHD SMRs (1997-1999) and IMD2000 scores, by ward