A NEW survey has found heart attacks are devastating thousands of families across the North-East.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has released the research ahead of its Wear it, Beat it fundraising campaign.

The survey of people in the region with a family member who have suffered a heart attack shows that 32 per cent say they live in constant fear of their loved one suffering a repeat attack and 19 per cent say they feel trapped by the after effects of the heart attack.

The majority of people say they feel angry, 52 per cent, and upset 54 per cent, because their loved one has suffered a heart attack and 36 per cent do not think people realise how serious a heart attack is.

One in ten have had to give up their job or reduce their working hours to care for a loved one.

Professor Helen Arthur, a BHF-funded researcher at Newcastle University, said: “When someone has a heart attack, it is usually because the arteries that supply their heart muscle are blocked by a clot, cutting off the supply of oxygen-rich blood.

“Starving the heart of blood irreversibly damages the heart muscle, which can lead to heart failure. For patients diagnosed with severe heart failure, the chances of surviving for more than five years are worse than many forms of cancer.”

The latest figures from the charity show that more than 120,000 people in the region are suffering from coronary heart disease, the nation’s single biggest killer and leading cause of heart attack.