The Hour

Scotland is a heart attack hot spot with the disease holding the title for being the biggest killer to the Scottish population As many as one in three people who have a heart attack will die before they even reach hospital, and about 50% will be dead within a month.

“In Scotland, we are the heart attack capital of the world unfortunately,” STV’s Dr Debbie explains.

Poor diet, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking are all major risk factors associated with heart attacks. A family history of heart disease can also increase your chances.

“I think diet is the major thing in Scotland,” Dr Debbie said. “We eat a terribly high fat, high salt diet. Salt puts your blood pressure up, fat puts up your level of cholesterol, and it is cholesterol that contributes to that furring of the arteries.”

“If you have got someone who smokes and they have got all these other risk factors, the biggest thing they can do to reduce the risk of heart disease is to stop the smoking, that’s up there above everything else.”

Focus is now being pushed at increasing public awareness of heart attack symptoms in order to reduce the response time at which treatment can be given.

“If you can recognise the symptoms early and get in and treat people early – that is what saves lives,” Dr Debbie said.

The classic sign of someone having a heart attack is the tightening of the chest, Mary McAuley from the British Red Cross explains. It is often common for the person to go quiet, clammy and possibly slump down onto the ground. On the worst extreme, they could stop breathing.

“The main you want to do is get early 999, early CPR and early defibrillation. The quicker you can get these three main things, the more chance that the causalities have a chance of survival.”

Watch the video for a step-by-step guide on how to check for breathing, carry out chest compressions and use a defibrillator correctly.