Atherosclerosis is a disease of the arterial blood vessels, often referred to as ‘hardening’ or ‘furring’ of the arteries, but the arteries to the heart and to the brain are excluded here.

See also Map 9 All cardiovascular deaths, Map 84 Heart attack and chronic heart disease and Map 98 Cerebrovascular disease.

From Plymouth, up along the Welsh coast, to Lancashire and the west of Scotland, rates are raised along this western edge of the island of Britain. To balance this, they are remarkably lower right down the eastern coast, from Aberdeen, through Dundee, much of Edinburgh, almost all of Leeds, and the bulk of the East Midlands and Birmingham; in western and northern Inner London, rates are below half the national average. Whether atherosclerosis or other diseases within the category of cardiovascular conditions gets coded on a death certificate may be largely arbitrary.

When atherosclerosis affects the arteries to the heart, it causes heart attacks and chronic heart disease. When it affects the arteries to the brain it causes cerebrovascular disease or strokes. The main arteries affected here are to the legs.

When the arteries harden they become narrower, restricting the supply of blood to organs of the body which can cause them to stop functioning properly. If the body’s tissue does not receive a constant blood supply it can become infected and gangrene can develop.

Arteries are more likely to harden when a person eats a high fat diet, smokes, has diabetes and high blood pressure; moderate consumption of alcohol is thought to act against the development of atherosclerosis.