Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease are three common and serious illnesses in Australia. These three diseases have shared common risk factors, and often occur together. The National Centre for Monitoring Cardiovascular Disease and the National Centre for Monitoring Diabetes have collaborated to investigate the association of these diseases and their impact on Australians' health and health systems. This report is the first output of this project, and it focuses on examining the current extent of comorbidity of the conditions from three perspectives: self-reported prevalence, hospitalisation and deaths.