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New moves to help tackle
sudden heart deaths in young people and improve services for people with
conditions like irregular heartbeats were announced by the Government
yesterday.
An estimated 400 healthy young people die each year from sudden adult
cardiac death syndrome (SADS), Public Health Minister, Melanie Johnson
told the Commons.
Around 700,000 people in
the UK suffer from arrhythmia - a disturbance in the heart’s rhythm.
Its severity can range from a minor inconvenience to a fatal rhythm
disturbance.
SADS was blamed for the
death of former Leeds United star Terry Yorath’s 15-year-old son Daniel
who died a decade ago in the garden of their Leeds home.
And last year the
Yorkshire Post highlighted the case of final-year university student Craig
Johnson from Rotherham whose death was put down to SADS.
He had been chatting to a
friend in his car outside the university before getting out to lock the
door but became dizzy and collapsed to the floor.
Miss Johnson said the
advisory group, to be headed by National Clinical Director for Heart
Disease Dr Roger Boyle-formerly a cardiologist at York District Hospital
would help raise awareness of the conditions and advise the Health
Department on future policy.
She said: ”It is
devastating for families when a young, apparently healthy person dies
suddenly without warning.
“The majority of people
with the underlying conditions do not have any symptoms for all or most of
their life. However, the condition can lead to sudden and unexpected
death, often in early adulthood. “It’s
vital that we attempt to understand this condition further.
The new group that I’m
announcing will help both raise awareness and drive future policy.”
The advisory group could
also lead to a new National Service Framework Chapter setting out advice
for doctors on standards and models of care for such conditions.
Voluntary and
professional organisations, including Cardiac Risk in the Young and
British Cardiac Society, will be invited to join.
Symptoms of arrhythmia
include palpitations, dizziness and blackouts but for some the first
indication is sudden adult death.
The most common causes of
arrhythmia include heart disease, coronary artery disease, heart valve
disorders and congenital anatomical heart defects.
The
highest profile case of Sads was that of Marc Vivien Foe, former
Premiership footballer, who collapsed and died on the pitch playing for
Cameroon last year.
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