Comorbidity of heart, stroke and vascular disease

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In 2022–24, 4.1 million Australian adults (21%) had heart, stroke and vascular disease (HSVD) or diabetes or chronic kidney disease (CKD), and almost 1 million (5.0% of adults) had at least 2 of HSVD, diabetes or CKD.

What is multimorbidity and comorbidity?

Many people with chronic conditions do not have a single, predominant condition, but rather they experience multimorbidity, defined as the presence of 2 or more chronic conditions in a person at the same time (AIHW 2021).

The health effect of multimorbidity can be greater than the combined effect of individual conditions, leading to more severe illness, poorer prognosis and premature death. People with multimorbidity generally use more health services, including increased contact with primary health care services, with more complex hospitalisations and poorer outcomes.

People with heart, stroke or vascular disease (HSVD) often live with other chronic conditions besides HSVD. The additional conditions experienced by a person with HSVD are known as comorbidity. In this report, the focus is on the comorbidity of HSVD (noting that a person may have more than one HSVD) in combination with diabetes and/or chronic kidney disease (CKD). These 3 diseases are closely associated, with shared underlying causes and risk factors, along with common prevention, management and treatment strategies. The interrelationship between their effects means that diabetes and CKD also act as risk factors for coronary heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases (AIHW 2016).

An ageing population, along with unfavourable risk factor trends and a high prevalence of chronic disease in the community are expected to result in a rise in the prevalence of HSVD comorbidity, and higher rates of HSVD among people with other chronic conditions. 

In 2022, based on self-reported data, of the estimated 1.3 million Australians who had heart, stroke and vascular disease (HSVD), 1.1 million (85%) also had at least 1 of 9 other selected chronic conditions, including:

  • arthritis, 625,000 (47%)
  • mental and behavioural conditions, 509,000 (39%)
  • back problems (dorsopathies), 494,000 (37%)
  • diabetes mellitus, 317,000 (24%)
  • asthma, 235,000 (18%)
  • osteoporosis, 161,000 (12%)
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 154,000 (12%)
  • cancer, 101,000 (7.6%)
  • kidney disease, 76,900 (5.8%) (ABS 2023).

Note that these data are based on self-report and rely on respondents providing accurate information.

Prevalence of HSVD, diabetes and CKD

Reliable estimates of the comorbidity of HSVD, diabetes and CKD in the Australian population can be derived from large-scale biomedical health surveys. The most recent of these was the ABS 2022–24 National Health Measures Survey.

In 2022–24, an estimated 4.1 million Australian adults (21%) had HSVD or diabetes or CKD. Of these, over three-quarters (3.1 million or 16% of adults) had only one of HSVD, diabetes or CKD, however almost 1 million (5.0% of adults) had at least 2 of HSVD, diabetes or CKD:

  • 324,000 (1.7%) had HSVD and CKD only
  • 161,000 (0.8%) had HSVD and diabetes only
  • 333,000 (1.8%) had diabetes and CKD only
  • 140,000 (0.7%) had all 3 conditions (Figure 1).

A higher proportion of men had all 3 conditions when compared to women (0.9% and 0.6%, respectively).

The prevalence of comorbidity of HSVD, diabetes and/or CKD increased with age, from 1.4% among those aged 18–64 to 10% among those 65 and over (AIHW analysis of ABS 2025).

Figure 1: Prevalence of HSVD, diabetes, CKD and their comorbidity, persons aged 18 and over, 2022–24

Venn diagram showing overlap of heart, stroke and vascular disease (HSVD) diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among adults. 2.5% had HSVD and diabetes or CKD, and 0.7% had all three conditions.

Venn diagram showing overlap of heart, stroke and vascular disease (HSVD) diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among adults. 2.5% had HSVD and diabetes or CKD, and 0.7% had all three conditions.

Note: HSVD prevalence is based on self-reported data of people who participated in the measured component of the 2022–24 National Health Measures. Diabetes prevalence is based on HbA1c and self-reported data, and CKD prevalence on eGFR and ACR test results.

Source: AIHW analysis of ABS 2025.

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