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released: 1 Jun 2010

Cardiovascular disease is Australia's biggest killer. This report provides a summary of cardiovascular disease and its impact on the health of Australian women.Women and heart disease: summary presents the key findings of its companion report, Women and heart disease: cardiovascular profile of women in Australia and looks at prevalence, deaths, disability, hospitalisations, medical services, treatments, risk factors and health care expenditure, as well as comparisons with other important diseases among women.

ISSN 1323-9236; ISBN 978-1-74249-016-8; Cat. no. CVD 50; Internet only

Summary

This summary report provides key findings from the main report Women and heart disease: cardiovascular profile of women in Australia, which describes the current impact of cardiovascular disease on Australian women. This report has been prepared to:

  • provide a baseline picture against which future monitoring can be compared and assessed
  • provide evidence that dispels the perception that cardiovascular disease is not an important threat to Australian women.

The key findings

Cardiovascular diseases are a major threat to the health of Australian women

  • More than one in three women who died in 2006 did so as a result of a cardiovascular disease.
  • Many of these deaths were premature, with cardiovascular disease responsible for more than one-quarter of premature deaths in women. In particular, coronary heart disease and stroke were the two leading causes of life lost to premature death for Australian women in 2003.
  • About two million Australian women (one in five) have cardiovascular disease. About 226,000 of these women have coronary heart disease, 168,000 have had a stroke and 176,000 have heart failure.
  • Coronary heart disease and stroke are in the 10 top causes of poor health and disability among Australian women.

Implications for the Australian health system

  • Cardiovascular disease is a real burden to the health system, ranking second in terms of health expenditure on women—$2,682.8 million was spent treating cardiovascular disease in women in Australia in 2004-05.
  • Cardiovascular disease is responsible for a significant proportion of general practitioners' workload. In 20% of general practice visits by women, at least one cardiovascular disease problem was treated. And about 200,000 admissions to hospital (5% of the total) for women related to cardiovascular disease in 2006-07.
  • 36.5 million prescriptions for cardiovascular medicines were dispensed for women through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 2007-08. This accounted for 52% of the total Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prescriptions filled for cardiovascular medicines.

Recommended citation

AIHW 2010. Women and heart disease: summary. Cat. no. CVD 50. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 12 June 2013 <http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=6442468370>.