According to a new study conducted by researchers at the Department of Public Health at Oxford, better hospital care and efforts to improve the nation’s health have helped cut the number of people dying from heart attacks by half in less than ten years.

The researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, analysed data for England throughout the eight-year period from 2002 to 2010.

The team examined more than 840,000 people in England who had been admitted to hospital for a heart attack, or who died suddenly from one, and assessed the total death rate as well as the number dying within 30 days of an attack.

The results of the survey showed that the death rate fell by roughly half between 2002 and 2010, with a 50% drop in men and a 53% drop in women.

The researchers said just over half of the reduction in the number of deaths could be attributed to a fall in the number of new heart attacks, while just under half was because of a decline in the death rate following heart attack.

Overall, 61% of the people who experienced a heart attack were men, 36% of heart attacks resulted in death and 73% occurred in those aged 65 and over.

The study gave credit to efforts to cut smoking, manage high blood pressure and high cholesterol for helping to reduce the number of people suffering an attack.

An improvement in the hospital care of those who did suffer an attack was also recognised as contributing to the reduction. Researchers believe this has contributed to a fall in the overall number dying.