Introduction
It has been estimated that about two million people in the UK experience the painful and debilitating symptoms of angina – one million men and more than 920,000 women.1 About 17% of men and 8% of women aged 65–74 have been diagnosed with angina at some point in their lives2 and there are about 338,000 new cases of angina each year.1 Not only does angina pose a considerable burden on patients and their carers, it also represents a significant financial burden, costing the National Health Service (NHS) about £700 million each year.3
Alongside the physical trauma of symptoms experienced by patients, angina also detrimentally af