Scotland remains one of the world leaders in the league table of premature deaths from cardiovascular disease, with Northern Ireland and the north of England not far behind.

Coronary heart disease, the leading single cause of death in the UK, claims about 150,000 lives everyyear. This is everyone's disease 90% of all Scots will have some degree of atheroma, which is the underlying pathological condition.

One man in three and one woman in four will have signs of heart disease before they retire. Over a third of all deaths in Scotland are due to heart attack, and ten per cent are due to stroke while other vascular disease being the total to more than half of all deaths.

To find out more about the causes of cardiovascular disease, usually known as risk factors, and what can be done to reduce the risk and possibly prevent these diseases click on the 'Am I at Risk?' and 'Prevention' sections.