To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated cost of treating coronary heart disease was to the NHS in the last year for which information is available. (181466)

The estimated cost of treating coronary heart disease to the national health service in England in the last year for which information is available (2006-07) is £2.3 billion.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the proportion of the decline in mortality from coronary heart disease which is attributable to treatment of individuals at risk in each year since 1997 for which figures are available. (181467)

In 2004 the national health service’s Health Development Agency published a briefing paper entitled “Relative contributions of changes in risk factors and treatment to the reduction in coronary heart disease mortality” which states that in the period 1981-2000, approximately 42 per cent. of the mortality decrease was attributable to medical and surgical treatments. This means that about 58 per cent. of the decline in mortality was attributable to the change in risk factors, with the largest proportion coming from a fall in smoking prevalence.

A copy of the briefing paper has been placed in the Library and is also available at:

www.nice.org.uk/niceMedia/documents/CHD_Briefing_ nov_04.pdf