Coronary heart disease: Scottish data

Detailed data on coronary heart disease (CHD) can be found on the CHD area of the ISD website.

Incidence

The rate of incident cases of CHD has been falling over the last ten years in Scotland. An apparent slight increase in incidence between 2007/08 and 2008/09 is due to the change in the clinical definition of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), based on more sensitive laboratory tests (e.g. troponin testing).

Incidence is strongly related to age, and rates are consistently higher for males than females across all age groups. Ten year trends for CHD incidence (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards and community health partnerships (CHPs), by age group and sex, can be found on ISD's CHD incidence page.

Mortality

Mortality from CHD has been falling over the last ten years. The age-standardised rate for under-75s continues to fall and if this trend from 1995 continues, the target to reduce the CHD mortality rate by 60% between 1995 and 2010 looks achievable.

CHD mortality is strongly related to age, with much higher rates among elderly people. Within Scotland, the rates remain higher in west central Scotland. Ten year trends for CHD mortality (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards and local authorities, by age group and sex, can be found on ISD's CHD mortality page.

The strong relationship between deprivation and CHD mortality can be seen in ISD's CHD deprivation page (Table DC1).

Prevalence

Prevalence is higher in males than in females and is strongly related to age. Information on CHD prevalence can be found on ISD's CHD prevalence page. 

Hospital discharge data

Hospital discharges due to CHD have been falling over the last ten years. Ten year trends for CHD hospital activity (numbers, crude rates and age-sex standardised rates) for NHS boards, councils and CHPs, by age group and sex, can be found on ISD's CHD hospital activity page.

Primary care data

The rate of patients consulting either a GP or a practice nurse for CHD increases with increasing age. Data on the patterns of consultations by age and sex, and trends over time, are available under the CHD heading on ISD's Practice Team Information (PTI) page.

Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.