From the North Shore Heart Research Foundation
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What is cardiovascular disease?
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, cardiovascular disease (also known as heart disease) covers all diseases and conditions of the heart and blood vessels. These include coronary heart disease, stroke, and heart failure.1
What is coronary heart disease?
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, coronary heart disease (also known as ischaemic heart disease and coronary artery disease) is the most common form of cardiovascular disease. It is a condition in which the heart's arteries (blood vessels) become narrower. There are two major forms – heart attack and angina.2
Heart health
- Despite remarkable medical advances, cardiovascular disease is still the world's leading cause of death - it claims 17.5 million lives a year.3
- In Australia, cardiovascular disease accounts for 34% of deaths (48,456 in 2008)4, of which 53% are women.
- Cardiovascular disease affects more than 3.7 million Australians5 - that is, one in five individuals and two out of three families6. It kills an Australian every 10 minutes.7
- Cardiovascular disease is also a leading cause of disability. About 1.4 million Australians have a disability associated with cardiovascular conditions.8
- About 30 women and 30 men die every day from coronary heart disease (narrowed arteries) in Australia9 (23,665) – 16% of Australians in 2008 (over 11,000 women & 12,000 men each year).
- The number of people hospitalised with a heart attack or chest pain is likely to double by 2030, and reach almost 250,000 by 2050. This is because of the ageing population, and the rise in obesity and diabetes.10
- Coronary heart disease (narrowed arteries) is the largest single contributor to the burden of disease in Australia. It is responsible for more than half of deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease in Australia.11
- For working people who suffer acute coronary syndrome (heart attack and chest pain), the average time before returning to work is three months - and one in five will remain off work12.
Risk factors
- According to the World Health Organisation, physical inactivity, smoking and an unhealthy diet are responsible for about 80% of cardiovascular disease.
In Australia, most deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease are preventable by changes in lifestyle. - 90% of Australians have at least one modifiable risk factor for heart disease, and 16% have four or more risk factors13. The main risks are: being overweight, family history, age, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, and physical inactivity.
- 40% of Australians who die from smoking die from heart, stroke or blood vessel disease14.
- 62% of Australians are overweight or obese15. People in regional and rural Australia are significantly more likely to be overweight or obese.16
- 94% of Australians do not eat enough fruit and vegetables17.
- Those who live in rural and remote areas of Australia generally have poorer health than their major city counterparts, with higher levels of mortality, disease and health risk factors. Overall, coronary heart disease and other heart diseases are responsible for these higher death rates18.
- Acute stress is increasingly linked to heart attack. It's estimated that external triggers - such as a sudden rise in stress or physical exertion - can be a factor in up to 40% of heart attacks.19
- In winter, there is a 60% increase in risk of heart attack.20
- According to the Government's 2009 National Preventative Health Strategy, ‘A large part of the difference between advantaged and disadvantaged Australians, and between city dwellers and remote Australians, can be attributed to obesity, tobacco and alcohol.'
Women and heart disease
- Cardiovascular disease is the largest single cause of death among women, accounting for a third of all women's deaths worldwide21.
- In Australia, four times more women die of coronary heart disease than of breast cancer.22
- Over 24,000 Australian women each year die of cardiovascular disease - accounting for 53% of such deaths 23.
- Women make up more than two-thirds of Australians with heart failure.24
- 78% of women in Australia are unaware that heart disease is their number one killer.25
- Women's risk of heart disease increases about 10 years later than for men.26
- Women wait longer than men to go to hospital when having a heart attack. Physicians are slower to recognise the symptoms because chest pain and EKG changes are less common than in men.
- Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain27.
- About 2 million Australian women (one in five) have some form of cardiovascular disease28.
- Eight out of ten women do not know that heart disease is their biggest killer29.
Learn more about women and heart disease
REFERENCES
1Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). Impact of falling cardiovascular disease death rates: deaths delayed and years of life extended. Bulletin 70. April 2009.
2AIHW. Impact of falling cardiovascular disease death rates: deaths delayed and years of life extended. Bulletin 70. April 2009.
4Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Causes of Death Australia, 2008
5Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Impact of falling cardiovascular disease death rates: deaths delayed and years of life extended. Bulletin 70. April 2009.
6ABS. National Health Survey 2007-2008 and National Heart Foundation
7 NSW Department of Health Website.
8AIHW. Impact of falling cardiovascular disease death rates: deaths delayed and years of life extended. Bulletin 70. April 2009.
9ABS. Causes of Death, 2009.
11AIHW. Impact of falling cardiovascular disease death rates: deaths delayed and years of life extended. Bulletin 70. April 2009.
12National Preventative Health Strategy 2008.
13AIHW. Living dangerously: Australians with multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Bulletin 24. February 2005.
15ABS. National Health Survey 2007-2008.
16AIHW. Australia's Health, 2008.
17ABS. National Health Survey 2007-2008.
18AIHW. Australia's Health 2008.
19Tofler, G.H., et al. ‘Analysis of possible triggers of acute myocardial infarction.' American Journal of Cardiology 66 (1990): 22-27.
20Ornato, J.P., et al. ‘Increased incidence of cardiac death attributed to acute myocardial infarction in the winter.' Coronary Artery Disease 1, No. 2 (Mar/Apr1990): 199-204.
21World Health Organisation. The World Health Report, 2004.
22ABS. Causes of Death, 2008.
23ABS. Causes of Death, 2008.
25National Heart Foundation survey, 2009.
26Stangle, V., Baumann, G., and Stangl, K. ‘Coronary atherogenic risk factors in women.' European Heart Journal 23, no.22 (2002):1738-52.
28AIHW. Women and heart disease: Cardiovascular disease series 34. June 2010.
29National Heart Foundation 2010.
