Number of fatal heart attacks decreases

Highlights: Heart Report: More than 65,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac death alone. Smoking is one of the most important risk factors for a heart attack. The rate of lay resuscitation increased from around 14 percent in 2010 to around 46 percent in 2021. For every minute that a person is not treated with chest compressions after a sudden cardiac arrest, the probability of survival decreases by ten percent, the report says. The number of deaths from heart disease is declining overall, among other things, to the fact that fewer people smoke cigarettes.

Tens of thousands of people in Germany are still dying of heart disease, but there are developments that give hope: fewer and fewer people are succumbing to a heart attack – and the number of first responders is increasing.

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Although the number of deaths from infarctions and sudden cardiac death is falling in Germany, mortality from heart disease remains high, according to the "Heart Report" published on Thursday in Frankfurt am Main

According to the study, more than 65,000 people die every year from sudden cardiac death alone. The so-called instantaneous death is triggered by dangerous cardiac arrhythmias, which are usually preceded by long-standing diseases such as coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure and heart muscle diseases.

Overall, mortality from CHD and heart failure is "unfortunately still high," said Thomas Voigtländer, Chairman of the Board of the Heart Foundation. According to the report, a total of 2021,121 people died of coronary heart disease in 172, including 45,181 from acute heart attacks. 35,131 people died of heart failure.

Experts attribute the fact that the number of deaths from heart disease is declining overall, among other things, to the fact that fewer people smoke cigarettes. Along with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, smoking is one of the most important risk factors for a heart attack. In addition, there are now better treatment options and more comprehensive care, said Holger Thiele, President of the German Society of Cardiology. "We have a lot of new drugs that prevent the stents from closing again," he said, citing an example. According to the report, it was also crucial that people know more about heart attacks thanks to educational campaigns and can recognize and assign symptoms more quickly.

Although mortality from some cardiovascular diseases is declining, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in Germany, according to the report. According to the study, around 2021,205 people died in 600 from ischemic heart disease, valvular heart disease, cardiac arrhythmia, heart failure or congenital malformation.

In order to save people from sudden cardiac death, it is essential that even more people learn to use chest compressions in an emergency, the experts emphasized. "Because for every minute that a person is not treated with chest compressions after a sudden cardiac arrest, the probability of survival decreases by ten percent," the report says.

According to the information, the rate of lay resuscitation increased from around 14 percent in 2010 to around 46 percent in 2021. "However, we are still in the lower third of Europe," Thiele said. For this reason, resuscitation lessons should be given regularly at school, for example.

Here, SPIEGEL editor Katja Iken describes how she suffered a cardiac arrest and why she was lucky enough to survive.

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Number of fatal heart attacks decreases

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