Deaths
Cardiovascular disease still Australia's biggest killer
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the cause of 46,100 deaths in 2009: a third of all deaths (32.8%).
Cardiovascular death rates increase sharply with age. In 2009, there was a threefold increase between those aged 55–64 and those 65–74, and a fourfold increase between the 65–74 and 75–84 age groups. The highest CVD death rates occurred in those aged 85 and over.
After adjusting for age, the CVD death rate was 1.4 times as high for men than women.
Between 45 and 64 years, the CVD death rate for men was close to 3 times as high as that of women.
Australia's CVD death rate low compared to many OECD countries
In 2006, of the 29 OECD countries for which comparable data were available, the Slovak Republic had the highest CVD death rate (485 per 100,000 people) and Japan had the lowest (118). Australia ranked third lowest with Korea (around 144 deaths per 100,000 people).
Between 1980 and 2006, Australia had one of the greatest declines in CVD death rates compared to the other OECD countries.
Coronary heart disease the most common cause of cardiovascular death
In 2009, coronary heart disease deaths (22,500) accounted for 49% of all CVD deaths and 16% of deaths from all causes.
There were 8,270 deaths from stroke in 2009 (18% of CVD deaths and 6% of all deaths).
Deaths from coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke increase with age.
CHD death rates are higher among men than women at all ages. Death rates from stroke are higher among men than women until the age of 85 years or over.
In 2006, the CHD death rate in Australia was the 8th lowest of OECD countries for which comparable data were available, but was still three times as high as in Japan (the country with the lowest CHD death rate).
For stroke, Australia's death rate ranked 6th lowest being similar to the Netherlands but higher than Switzerland, France, Canada and the United States.
Burden of disease
Cardiovascular disease is one of the greatest contributors to the total burden of disease.
Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) are a measure of the total impact of a disease including its fatal (premature death) and non-fatal (disability) outcomes. This is also known as the burden of disease.
In 2003, CVD was the second greatest contributor to the total burden of diseases behind cancer, accounting for 18% of the total burden.
Premature deaths accounted for 78% of the total CVD burden, 79% for males and 77% for females.
Coronary heart disease is a major contributor to the burden of CVD.
The major contributors of the total CVD burden were coronary heart disease (56%) followed by stroke (25%).
Premature deaths accounted for 83% of the total coronary heart disease burden and 71% of the stroke burden.
Health system expenditure
Cardiovascular disease the most costly disease
In 2004–05, close to 6 billion dollars in health care expenditure was spent for CVD, representing 11% of the total health expenditure.
Hospitalisations the area of greatest expenditure for CVD
In 2004–05, just over half of CVD health expenditure was for hospital-admitted patients, 28% was for prescription pharmaceuticals and 19% was spent on out-of-hospital health services.
CHD and stroke the costliest CVDs
Of CVD expenditure, 40% was spent on coronary heart disease ($1,813 million) and stroke ($546 million) (Table 8) (62KB XLS). For CHD and stroke, the majority of expenditure was for hospitalisations (more than 70% of their respective expenditure) followed by prescription pharmaceuticals (16% and 11% respectively) and out-of-hospital services (10% and 8% respectively).