Heart disease rates have halved in a decade as statins and the fall in smoking have hugely reduced the prevalence of the condition.

Although heart disease is still the leading cause of death in Britain, the number of people dying decreased from 80 per 100,000 to 46 per 100,000 between 2005 and 2015, Imperial College found.

Experts said the drop was testament to the strong disease prevention campaigns over the last decade which have seen millions of people offered statins to lower their cholesterol and encouraged to stop smoking.

However researchers said despite the positive figures, obesity and diabetes were still keeping the death toll too high.

Dr Alexandra Nowbar, Imperial’s National Heart and Lung Institute said: “In the UK, the reduction in death rates from heart disease is consistent with lower smoking rates and a rise in statin prescription rates.

“This may be testament to the strong disease prevention campaigns over the last few decades.

“However, obesity, blood pressure and rates of type 2 diabetes are on the rise, and if we don’t keep tabs on these – and encourage people to follow healthy lifestyles, we could see the trend of falling heart disease deaths reverse in the future.”