OXFORD University study has found the number of people being diagnosed with heart failure is growing, with the poorest people most likely to be affected by the condition.

The study, published in The Lancet, shows that not only are people in the most deprived socio-economic groups about 60 per cent more likely to be affected by heart failure, but that the gap between the richest and the poorest didn’t close at all between 2002 and 2014.

It also showed that heart failure affected nearly a million people in the UK in 2014; a rise of 23 per cent from 2002.

Despite modest improvements in prevention and an increase in the age at which patients develop the disease, there are now as many new cases of heart failure each year as there are of the four most common cancers combined (lung, breast, bowel and prostate).

The rise in the incidence of heart failure is largely due to an increase in the number of older people in the UK; the number of people aged 65-69 rose by 36 per cent between 2002 and 2014, with the post-war ‘baby boomer’ generation reaching an age at which they are at greater risk of heart failure.

Lead author of the study and deputy director of The George Institute for Global Health UK Professor Kazem Rahimi said: “The number of diseases associated with heart failure was high, and increased over time.

“This suggests that as the number of patients with heart failure grows, caring for them is also becoming more complex, increasing the burden on health services.”

The study also found a substantial increase in the number of other illnesses experienced by those with heart failure.