Mind the gap

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for 1 in 3 deaths in England and Wales and the burden of this falls most heavily on people living in deprived areas of the country, according to the Care Quality Commission. In its report, Closing the Gap, the Commission calls for a renewed drive to deal with CVD. Stroke Statistics 2009 from the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association provides some evidence to support this view. National mortality target monitoring covers data on circulatory disease. The latest release, which includes figures for 2008, shows that, although overall mortality rates for circulatory disease have fallen, the gap between the Spearhead Group (PCTs in the most deprived areas) and England is not reducing at a similar pace.