What is heart failure?
Heart failure occurs when the heart pumps blood less effectively around the body. It can result from heart attack, high blood pressure or a damaged heart valve.
Key facts
| Prevalence - number of Australians with condition in 2004-05 |
263,000 |
| Incidence - new cases |
unknown |
| Hospitalisations in 2006-07 |
43,681 |
| Deaths in 2006 (underlying cause only) |
2,352 |
Note: Covers ICD-10 code I50.
Did you know?
- Older people are more likely to have heart failure: 2.5% of Australians aged 55-64 years have heart failure increasing to 8.2% for those aged 75 years or over.
- Women make up more than two-thirds of Australians with heart failure.
- Death rates from heart failure are falling but the reasons for this are not clear. Age-standardised death rates for heart failure as an underlying or associated cause of death fell by 29% between 1997 and 2003.
Further information
Publications showing detailed statistics (free full text)