Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts

Emergency departments (EDs) are an essential component of Australia’s health care system. Many of Australia’s public hospitals have purpose-built EDs, staffed 24 hours a day, providing care for patients with heart, stroke or vascular disease who require urgent medical, surgical or other attention.

The triage category indicates the urgency of the patient’s need for care.

Of ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of CVD in 2024–25:

• 18,500 (5.3%) were triaged as ‘resuscitation’ and needed immediate care
• 158,000 (45%) were ‘emergency’ (within 10 minutes)
• 129,000 (37%) were ‘urgent’ (within 30 minutes)
• 39,200 (11%) were ‘semi-urgent’ (within 60 minutes)
• 4,100 (1.2%) were ‘non-urgent’ (within 120 minutes) (AIHW 2026).

In 2024–25, almost two-thirds (60%) of ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of CVD were subsequently admitted to the hospital they presented to, with another 32% departing without being admitted or referred, and 6.0% referred to another hospital for admission.

In addition to ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of CVD, there were 430,000 ED presentations with symptoms of ‘Pain in throat and chest’ (ICD-10-AM R07) in 2024–25. Of these, 139,000 (32%) were subsequently admitted to hospital for further investigation and treatment (AIHW 2026).

Age and sex

In 2024–25:

• there were 186,000 male and 162,000 female presentations to Australian public hospital EDs with a principal diagnosis of CVD
• the age-standardised rate of presentations among males was 1.3 times as high as females
• more than half of presentations (203,000, or 58%) were among people aged 65 and over
• presentation rates increased with age and were highest among males and females aged 85 and over (8,600 and 8,000 per 100,000 population) – more than twice as high as those aged 65–74. This was consistent across CVD subtypes (Figure 1)
• at age 55–64, the male rate of presentation was 1.6 times as high as the female rate. At age 25–34, the female rate of presentation was 1.1 times as high as the male rate.

Variation by priority population groups

In 2024–25, after adjusting for differences in the age structure of the populations, CVD presentation rates:

• increased with remoteness
• were 2 times as high for people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas compared with those living in the highest socioeconomic areas.

For information on First Nations people, see First Nations people. Data disaggregated by priority population groups are available in the supplementary data tables.

Principal diagnosis

In 2024–25:

• there were 59,200 ED presentations with a principal diagnosis of coronary heart disease (CHD), 49,200 with atrial fibrillation (AF), 48,100 with stroke, 35,600 with heart failure, and 8,800 with peripheral arterial disease (PAD)
• the age-standardised rate of ED presentation by principal diagnosis was consistently higher for males compared to females, from 1.3 times as high for AF, 1.4 for stroke, 1.5 times for heart failure, 1.9 for PAD and 2.0 times for CHD
• people living in the lowest socioeconomic areas had much higher age-standardised ED presentation rates than people in the highest socioeconomic areas for CHD, heart failure and PAD (2.6–2.8 times as high)
• the rate of admission to hospital following ED presentation varied by principal diagnosis, from 58% for AF presentations, to 72% for CHD presentations, and 80% for both stroke and heart failure presentations.

Reference

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2026) Hospitals. Emergency department care, Emergency department care 2024–25 data. Table 4.9–4.10. AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 05 February 2026.