Cardiovascular disease is again on the rise in England, a major government-backed survey concludes.
The previous health survey found that heart disease and stroke were falling, but the latest, published on Tuesday, shows a reversal in that trend. It also shows that, despite strenuous health education efforts, the English are taking less care of themselves, eating, drinking and smoking more. Welcoming the survey, health minister Yvette Cooper said it reinforced the need for urgent action to cut the death toll from heart and circulation problems. Health inequalities like these are unfair and unacceptable. Overall, the report makes depressing reading, with few areas of improvement.