500,000 People Miss Out on Life-Saving Drugs, Sparking a Potential Surge of Heart Attacks and Strokes

Heart Attack Concept

Blood pressure-lowering medications are critical for maintaining heart health and reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. High blood pressure is a leading cause of cardiovascular problems, and these medications can help regulate and lower blood pressure levels, improving overall cardiovascular health.

Researchers estimate that 500,000 individuals were unable to receive blood pressure-lowering medications during the pandemic.

According to a study recently published in Nature Medicine and supported by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Data Science Centre at Health Data Research UK, approximately 500,000 individuals were unable to initiate treatment with blood pressure-lowering medications during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The researchers warn that the delay in starting vital blood pressure-lowering medications could result in thousands of preventable heart attacks or strokes, as these medications play a crucial role in preventing deadly heart and circulatory diseases.

Using data on routinely dispensed prescriptions in England, Scotland, and Wales, scientists found that 491,306 fewer people than expected started taking blood pressure-lowering medication between March 2020 and the end of July 2021.

If these individuals’ high blood pressure remains untreated over their lifetime, the team estimate that this could lead to more than 13,500 additional cardiovascular events, including over 2,000 heart attacks and 3,000 strokes.

These findings highlight an important opportunity for the NHS to identify and treat people who should have started taking medicines to reduce their risk of conditions including heart attack and stroke.

Lead author Professor Reecha Sofat, Associate Director at the BHF Data Science Centre, Breckenridge Chair of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool, warned:

“Measures to prevent infection spread were necessary and undoubtedly saved lives. The NHS has already taken important and positive steps toward identifying people with high blood pressure as early as possible. However, we need this focus to be sustained in the long-term to prevent any increase in heart attacks and strokes which will add to a healthcare system already under extreme pressure.”

To understand more about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the management of risk factors for heart and circulatory diseases, the researchers analyzed 1.32 billion records of medications dispensed to 15.8 million people in England, Scotland, and Wales between 1st April 2018 and 31st July 2021.

This showed that, by the first half of 2021, on average, 27,070 fewer people started taking blood pressure-lowering medication each month between compared with 2019. In the same period, they found that 16,744 fewer people started taking medication to reduce levels of fat or cholesterol in their blood each month.

Identifying the individuals who missed starting medication as soon as possible will be critical to reducing their cardiovascular risk. The team believes that identifying those who missed out on blood pressure treatment within five years would reduce the total number of cardiovascular events to just over 2,700.

This is the first time that medicines data has been used to follow changes in the day-to-day management of chronic conditions. The researchers say that being able to routinely track this in the future, particularly during healthcare crises, would allow the NHS and policymakers to step in earlier to avoid a repeat of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor Sofat added: “Despite the incredible work done by NHS staff, our data show that we’re still not identifying people with cardiovascular risk factors at the same rate as we were before the pandemic. Detecting these risk factors early and beginning medication where appropriate is crucial to managing them, helping more people to avoid a preventable heart attack or stroke so they can live in good health for longer.”

Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation and consultant cardiologist, said: “Yet again we’re seeing clear evidence of the major disruption to healthcare people in the UK experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. But it’s not too late to limit the damage. These findings demonstrate how getting heart healthcare back on track can curb the additional strain that untreated risk factors such as high blood pressure would otherwise place on the NHS.

She concludes, “We need to make it easier and more accessible for everyone to know their numbers – particularly their blood pressure and cholesterol. This means empowering people to access the help they need when they need it so they can be supported to manage their own health.”

Reference: “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cardiovascular disease prevention and management” by Caroline E. Dale, Rohan Takhar, Raymond Carragher, Michail Katsoulis, Fatemeh Torabi, Stephen Duffield, Seamus Kent, Tanja Mueller, Amanj Kurdi, Thu Nguyen Le Anh, Stuart McTaggart, Hoda Abbasizanjani, Sam Hollings, Andrew Scourfield, Ronan A. Lyons, Rowena Griffiths, Jane Lyons, Gareth Davies, Daniel Harris, Alex Handy, Mehrdad A. Mizani, Christopher Tomlinson, Johan H. Thygesen, Mark Ashworth, Spiros Denaxas, Amitava Banerjee, Jonathan A. C. Sterne, Paul Brown, Ian Bullard, Rouven Priedon, Mamas A. Mamas, Ann Slee, Paula Lorgelly, Munir Pirmohamed, Kamlesh Khunti, Andrew D. Morris, Cathie Sudlow, Ashley Akbari, Marion Bennie, Naveed Sattar, Reecha Sofat and CVD-COVID-UK Consortium, 19 January 2023, Nature Medicine.
DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-02158-7

The British Heart Foundation Data Science Centre is part of Health Data Research UK and is funded by the British Heart Foundation.

4 Comments on "500,000 People Miss Out on Life-Saving Drugs, Sparking a Potential Surge of Heart Attacks and Strokes"

  1. And of course none of the architects of the shamdemic had any idea, as they pushed social isolation and house arrest on entire countries, that this was inevitably going to happen.
    Bring the buggers to book!

  2. Bob the builder. | February 25, 2023 at 9:04 pm | Reply

    Funny thing is that many of the people I read about having strokes and heart attacks are younger and more athletic. I don’t expect they are on any meds. Nice try though!

  3. Wow, the usual delusional comments on this sad website.

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