Heart Disease / Heart Disease Prevention

UK sources of information and / or support

 The leaflets section of Patient UK

Includes a number of leaflets on heart problems.

 Prevention of cardiovascular disease

A patient guide to complement the SIGN national guideline for health professionals called Risk estimation and the prevention of cardiovascular disease.

 British Heart Foundation

A charitable organisation that aims to play a leading role in the fight against heart disease. Website provides extensive information about heart problems and related issues.

 Carotid Artery Disease

Information from The Circulation Foundation.

 Intermittant Claudication

Information from The Circulation Foundation.

 Femoropopliteal & Femorodistal Bypass

Information from The Circulation Foundation.

 HEART UK

Committed to raising awareness of heart disease in the UK and stressing the importance of a healthy lifestyle in reducing the risk of suffering from it.

 British Cardiac Patients Association

Offering support, reassurance and information to all cardiac patients. Representing patients in local and national issues relating to coronary heart disease.

 Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association

Exists to prevent and alleviate chest, heart and stroke illnesses in Northern Ireland.

 Heart Research

Dedicated to raising money for vital research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease so that people can enjoy fuller and healthier lives. Their website also gives information on living a healthy lifestyle, diet and exercise tips, the effect of smoking on the heart as well as details of fundraising events.

 Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland

Provide an Adviceline service for people in Scotland. Their website also has various booklets, audio tapes, videos and factsheets.

 Coronary Heart Disease

Women’s Health Concern provides an independent service to advise, reassure and educate women about their health concerns. They provide a range of factsheets including one in this area.

 Heart & Stroke Information Point

Provides reliable, up to date information for patients and carers affected by heart disease and/or stroke conditions. The project is funded by The Big Lottery and is being undertaken by NHS Tayside in conjunction with the University of Dundee. The website has been developed in partnership with patient, carer and healthcare professional groups across Tayside and they also work with national organisations including Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland. The website provides general information about heart disease and stroke conditions and also localised information about support groups in the Tayside area.

 Healthy Heart Programme

A service designed to understand coronary heartattacks, heart diseases, heart problems and high cholesterol

 British Nutrition Foundation

Promotes the nutritional wellbeing of society through scientifically based nutritional knowledge and advice.

 Cardiovascular disease - statins

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Cardiovascular Disease - Statins.

 Vascular disease - clopidogrel and dipyridamole

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Vascular Disease - Clopidogrel and Dipyridamole.

  Endoscopic saphenous vein harvest for coronary artery bypass grafting

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Endoscopic saphenous vein harvest for coronary artery bypass grafting .

  Hypercholesterolemia - Ezetimibe

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Hypercholesterolemia - Ezetimibe.

  Familial Hypercholesterolaemia

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Familial Hypercholesterolaemia.

 Totally endoscopic robotically assisted coronary artery bypass grafting

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Totally endoscopic robotically assisted coronary artery bypass grafting.

 Intraoperative fluorescence angiography in coronary artery bypass grafting

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Intraoperative fluorescence angiography in coronary artery bypass grafting.

 Coronary Artery Disease - drug-eluting stents

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Coronary Artery Disease - drug-eluting stents.

 Acute coronary syndrome - prasugrel

A patient guide to complement the NICE national guideline for health professionals called Acute coronary syndrome - prasugrel.

 Sudden Cardiac Death

From the 'Behind the Medical Headlines' website developed to provide authoritative and independent expert commentaries on topical medical matters reported in the international media. Produced by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

 Stress and the Heart

From the 'Behind the Medical Headlines' website developed to provide authoritative and independent expert commentaries on topical medical matters reported in the international media. Produced by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

 Medicine Guide for Cholesterol

Medicine Guides provide reliable information about medicines (drugs), conditions and the different treatment options available. They have been developed in the UK as part of the Medicines Information Project. Includes detailed information about medicines used to treat cholesterol.

 Coronary Heart Disease

Policy and guidance from the Department of Health

 Cholesterol

Information from NHS Choices - the government's patient information portal.

 Cholesterol lowering medicines, statins

Information from NHS Choices - the government's patient information portal.

 Coronary heart disease

Information from NHS Choices - the government's patient information portal.

 Coronary heart disease

Information from BUPA.

 High cholesterol

Information from BUPA.

 Atherosclerosis

Information from NHS Choices - the government's patient information portal.

 Coronary artery bypass graft

Information from NHS Choices - the government's patient information portal.

 Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)

Information from BUPA.

 High Cholesterol

Information from BMJ best treatments.

See also the Patient UK self help and support groups page for heart disease and the pages of links for:

• Heart Failure
• Congenital Heart Disease
• Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction)
• Cardiomyopathy

Further sources / more detailed information

Some non-UK sites

The following list popular non-UK health information sites with content aimed at the general public. They are mainly from the US. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included but these large sites are comprehensive.

• Non-UK disease / illness sites
• Non-UK self-help / support group sites

More detailed medical information

The following list online sources of more detailed medical information, mainly from the UK. These sites are mainly aimed at health professionals, but are of interest to all. They have not been checked to see if information about the above topic is included, but information about most medical topics can usually be found.

• PatientPlus - hundreds of medical reference articles provided by Patient UK.
• Evidence Based Medicine - such as from Clinical Evidence, The Cochrane Library, etc.
• Database of UK Clinical Guidelines - from NICE, SIGN, Clinical Knowledge Summaries, etc.
• Medline - abstracts available from thousands of journals.
• Sites listing free online medical textbooks and journals.
• Sites listing free medical images - pictures, atlases, anatomy, skin diseases, etc.