As many as one in eight Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples have some form of cardiovascular disease, according to a
report released today by the Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare (AIHW).
Susanna Senes of the AIHW's Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes
Unit, said, 'Rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are 30% higher
among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples than among
non-Indigenous Australians.'
The report, Cardiovascular disease and its associated risk
factors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
2004-05, showed that hypertension was the most common
cardiovascular condition in Indigenous Australians followed by
coronary heart disease, heart failure and rheumatic heart
disease.
The greatest disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians was seen in rates of coronary heart disease, which were
twice as high in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
'Contributing to this disparity were risk factors for
cardiovascular disease, nearly all of which were more common among
Indigenous Australians, Ms Senes said.
More than half of Indigenous adults have three or four of the
following risk factors for CVD: physical inactivity, daily smoking,
not enough fruit and vegetables, high alcohol consumption, obesity,
and diabetes.
Indigenous Australians were nearly four times as likely to have
diabetes as non Indigenous Australians, and were twice as likely to
be daily smokers, or to be obese.
Based on data from Queensland, Western Australia, South
Australia and Northern Territory, cardiovascular death rates in
Indigenous Australians were three times those of non-Indigenous
Australians.
Coronary heart disease was responsible for more Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander deaths between 2002 and 2005 than any other
single cause.
Thursday 5 June 2008
Further information: Ms Susanna Senes, AIHW, 02
6244 1171, mob. 0418 271 395.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for the availability of Cardiovascular disease
and its associated risk factors in Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples 2004-05.