Over 90% - or 13 million - Australian adults report living with
at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to a
new study from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW).
Living dangerously: Australians with multiple risk factors
for cardiovascular disease analyses the prevalence of nine
risk factors among Australian adults including: tobacco smoking,
physical inactivity, low fruit consumption, low vegetable
consumption, risky alcohol consumption, high blood pressure, high
blood cholesterol, obesity and diabetes.
The report is based on self-reported data collected in the
Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2001 National Health Survey.
Report author Kathleen O'Brien said the most common risk factors
reported were poor diet and physical inactivity.
'Nearly 70% of people reported low vegetable consumption, 48%
reported low fruit consumption, and 32% were physically
inactive.
'These three risk factors alone indicate that many Australians
are at an increased risk of poor cardiovascular health,' Ms O'Brien
said.
'And the more risk factors you have the more likely you are to
report having had a heart attack, stroke, angina or atherosclerosis
(clogging of the arteries).
'Taking into account age and sex, people with five or more risk
factors were nearly six times as likely as people with no risk
factors to report having had angina; three times as likely to have
had a heart attack or a stroke; and twice as likely to have had
atherosclerosis.'
Living dangerously also shows that people in the most
disadvantaged socioeconomic group were more likely than those in
the least disadvantaged group to have three or more risk
factors.
'Given the high prevalence of these modifiable risk factors
among Australian adults, particularly poor diet and physical
inactivity, there is the potential for most people to make changes
to improve their health,' Ms O'Brien said.
'Coronary heart disease and stroke remain the leading causes of
death in Australia, so prevention and control of these risk factors
is vitally important.'
24 February 2005
Further information: Ms Kathleen O'Brien, AIHW,
tel. 02 6244 1220, or 0407 283 109.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of Living Dangerously:
Australians with Multiple Risk Factors for Cardiovascular
Disease, February 2005.