Reining in the leading cause of death in Malta could be as simple as encouraging small lifestyle changes and regular check-ups.

Heart disease is responsible for more deaths every year than any other condition, although major advances in treatment have brought the death rate lower than it has ever been.

And speaking at an awareness-raising open day at Mater Dei today, experts said the country can go further still.

“This is a largely preventable condition,” said Robert Xuereb, the hospital’s cardiology chairman. “The main causes of heart attacks are diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and cigarette smoking, all of which can be controlled.”

In Europe, 10,000 people are diagnosed with the condition every day and there are 15 million Europeans living with the illness.

Dr Xuereb stressed the need for regular check-ups to flag up the largely symptomless conditions responsible for dangerously narrowing the heart’s arteries and increasing the risk of a heart attack, and taking timely action to minimise the risk.

“The first step is always a healthy lifestyle: a good diet and regular exercise, half an hour a day, which can be as simple as walking up and down the office corridor, using the stairs instead of the lift, or parking the car a bit further away.”

Treatment has made major strides in recent years, with previously major procedures now capable of being carried out in far less invasive ways.

A highly specialised procedure to treat irregular heart rhythm was carried out on the island for the first time this year, where patients would previously have to be sent to centres in London or Oxford.

Malta is also leading the way in the use of so-called antibiotic envelopes, used to reduce the risk of infection in patients with implantable cardiac defibrillators, being the first European country to incorporate the technique into treatment.,

“This is following what’s happening in the rest of Europe, but we are a small country and we feel we can reach out to the public very easily,” Dr Xuereb said. “By educating the public on healthy measures, we can go further and avoid heart attacks in the first place.