Skip to content

Growing diabetes epidemic to trigger ‘sharp rise’ in heart attacks and strokes by 2035 in the UK

23 Aug 2018

According to our new analysis the number of people suffering heart attacks and strokes as a result of their diabetes will rise by 29% by 2035 in the UK

The forecast reveals that the growing number of people with diabetes could result in nearly 39,000 people living with diabetes suffering a heart attack in 2035 – a rise of 9,000 compared to 2015 – and over 50,000 people suffering a stroke – a rise of 11,000.

Today in England, nearly 4 million people are living with diabetes. But we expect that to rise to over 5 million over the next 20 years, partly due to people’s worsening lifestyles and the UK’s growing obesity rates.

The vast majority of people with diabetes have type 2, with just 10% diagnosed with type 1 in the UK. People with diabetes are twice to four times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than people without diabetes. This means the rise in diabetes cases, is expected to trigger a sharp increase in these deadly heart and circulatory problems.

In addition to heart attack and stroke, the rise in diabetes cases will increase the number of people suffering from conditions including angina and heart failure.

Read the full article on the British Heart Foundation site