Women from poor areas are TWICE as likely to suffer from heart disease
Heart disease claims 28,000 lives a year with more than a million women in Britain living with related conditions
WOMEN from poor areas are twice as likely to suffer from heart disease, a study claims.
Experts blame higher rates of smoking, in-activity and obesity.
Researchers at Oxford University followed 1.2million women over 12 years — with 72,000 developing heart disease.
They found those with a university degree had half the risk of those who did not go into further education.
Those from the most deprived areas were also twice as likely to have problems with their heart than those in rich ones.
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More than a million women live with heart disease in Britain.
It claims 28,000 lives a year.
Catherine Kelly, of the , which helped to fund the study, said nearly four in five over-30s have a “heart age” older than their actual age.
She said: “The research highlights the stark inequalities in rates of heart disease between the most and least affluent.”