Despite a steady decline in death rates over the last 20 years,
cardiovascular disease still claims more than 50,000 lives a year,
with Indigenous Australians and people in the lower socioeconomic
groups by far the hardest hit.
These facts are contained in Australia's most significant report
into the impact of cardiovascular disease-Heart, stroke and
vascular diseases: Australian facts 2001-to be jointly
released on Monday by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare and the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
The report shows that cardiovascular disease is still
Australia's number one killer despite national death rates falling
about 4% a year since the late 1980s.
Indigenous Australians suffer cardiovascular death rates seven
to ten times those of the average Australian. It is also a fact
that the most disadvantaged people in Australian society are at
least twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as those
least disadvantaged.
Heart disease risk factor expert, Dr Tim Armstrong, of the
AIHW's CVD and Risk Factor Monitoring Unit, said that eight out of
10 adult Australians are either physically inactive, overweight,
have high blood pressure or smoke cigarettes-all risk factors for
cardiovascular disease.
'And if we look at the risk factors individually, we find that
over half the adult population is overweight or obese, almost half
the adult population has higher than desirable cholesterol levels,
29% have high blood pressure, and about 44% do insufficient
physical activity', Dr Armstrong said.
The Heart Foundation's Principal Executive Officer, Professor
Andrew Tonkin, said a large part of the deaths, disability and
illness caused by cardiovascular disease was preventable because
people could act to minimise their exposure to risk factors.
'People also need to realise that the cardiovascular disease
public health problem is not so much the result of individuals with
one marked abnormality within one risk factor-such as a cholesterol
level of 10, or a blood pressure level of 200. It is more the
result of individuals with minor abnormalities across a number of
risk factor areas,' Professor Tonkin said.
'This clustering of risk factors is very common in people with
diabetes.'
'By 2020, cardiovascular disease is expected to replace
nutritional deficiencies and transmissible diseases as the leading
global health problem.'
The report also outlines major changes in the treatment and care
of the disease, with a dramatic increase in the use of lipid
lowering drugs and coronary stenting.
Heart, stroke and vascular diseases 2001 was produced by the
AIHW and the National Heart Foundation in conjunction with the
National Stroke Foundation of Australia, Commonwealth Department of
Health and Aged Care and the International Diabetes Institute.
30 April 2001
Media inquiries: Ms Michelle Wells AIHW, 0407
483 411 or 0407 012 520 (mobile), tel. 02 6244 1012
Ms Karen McGrath, NHF, tel. 03 9321 1545 or mobile 0411
608 034
Media copies of report: Publications Officer, AIHW tel.
02 6244 1032
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.