According to a new study death rates from heart disease in Canada have fallen by 30 % in the last 10 years possibly as a result of active campaigning against smoking and controlling bad cholesterol levels and better prevention. The study led by researchers at ICES, the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, was between 1994 and 2004 and found that the good news is offset by bad news that heart disease is affecting more women.

Although 56 % of all heart attack deaths are in men 60 % of all heart failure deaths and 59 % of all stroke deaths occur in women. The researchers reported that they noted a decline of deaths from 360.6 to 252.5 per 100,000 people over the 10 year period and also found 4,000 fewer people dying from heart attacks (acute myocardial infarction), in Canada during this period.

In a statement the study's authors said, "This could reflect declines in risk factors, such as smoking and increased use of statins to control cholesterol." In the study the researchers examined death rates from Statistics Canada's national death registry and hospital admission rates in Canada between 1994 and 2004, with an emphasis on heart attacks, heart failure and stroke.

They reported a decline of 4,000 fewer deaths from heart attacks in Canada between 1994 and 2004. They also reported 38.1 % fewer acute myocardial infarctions, 23.5 % fewer heart failures and 28.2 % fewer strokes.

However the authors warned that the "findings are not grounds for complacency." The report said they found "improvements across most age and sex groups" but for the first time, more women than men are dying of cardiovascular causes."

Dr. Jack Tu, an ICES researcher and an author of the study said, "The thing I am most happy about is the striking 30 per cent decline in heart disease deaths. It's a reflection of better prevention and better treatment.

Overall, that's very good news and it suggests that the massive societal investment in education is having an impact and is improving the life of Canadians."

He added, "This study does not mean we have won the war against heart disease." Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of both women and men over 45, he noted.

Marco Di Buono, director of research for Heart and Stroke Ontario said, "We are saving people by intervening with treatments and therapies developed with research but we are delaying inevitable death and disability." He added that there are now more Canadian men and women living with heart disease than ever before, and there may be more in the future, if rates for childhood obesity continue or rise further.

The study, to be published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concludes that "previous efforts to prevent cardiovascular events have been successful, but in many cases they may have delayed the occurrence of such events until people are older and potentially more difficult to treat."