Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment (PI20 and PI21)

Indicators related to CVD risk assessment in the national Key Performance Indicators (nKPI) collection are:

  • the proportion of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had information available to calculate their absolute CVD risk in the previous 24 months
  • the proportion of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had an absolute CVD risk recorded as high, moderate or low in the previous 24 months.

Why CVD risk assessment is important

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes a range of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. The most common and serious types of CVD include coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure.

As a number of its risk factors are modifiable, CVD is preventable in many cases. Risk factors for CVD include overweight and obesity, tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, insufficient physical activity, poor nutrition and diabetes.

Absolute CVD risk assessment combines risk factors to calculate the probability that an individual will develop a cardiovascular event or other vascular disease within a specified time frame (usually 5 years) (RACGP 2018).

Although age‐standardised CVD mortality for Indigenous Australians has fallen over the past few decades, CVD remains the largest contributor to preventable morbidity and mortality in Indigenous Australians (Agostino et. al. 2020, AIHW 2020).

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment (PI20)

This indicator is the proportion of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had information available to calculate their absolute CVD risk in the previous 24 months.

It is collected for males and females in age groups:

  • 35–44
  • 45–54
  • 55–64
  • 65–74.

At June 2021, 50% of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD had information available to calculate their absolute CVD risk in the previous 24 months.

This was highest in:

  • Western Australia (57%)
  • Remote areas (57%)
  • Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) (52%).

CVD risk assessment, by either state/territory, remoteness or organisation type, reporting period

Two Tableau visualisations are presented here. The first shows the percentage of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had information available to calculate their absolute CVD risk in the last 2 years for either:

  • state/territory (NSW/ACT, Vic, Qld, WA, SA, Tas, NT, Australia)
  • remoteness area (Major cities, Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote, Very remote, Australia)
  • organisation type (ACCHO, non-ACCHO, Total).

Reporting periods of either June 2017, December 2017, June 2018, December 2018, June 2019, December 2019, June 2020, December 2020, or June 2021 can be selected.

The second visualisation shows the selected information from the first visualisation by sex (male, female) and age group (35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65–74).

Data supporting this visualisation are available in Excel supplementary data tables at Data.

Cardiovascular disease risk assessment result (PI21)

This indicator is the proportion of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had an absolute CVD risk recorded in the previous 24 months as:

  • high—greater than 15% chance of a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years
  • medium—10–15% chance of a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years
  • low—less than 10% chance of a cardiovascular event in the next 5 years.

It is collected for males and females in age groups:

  • 35–44
  • 45–54
  • 55–64
  • 65–74.

At June 2021, 59% of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had an absolute CVD risk recorded in the previous 24 months had a low absolute CVD risk, 6% moderate, and 34% high.

Having a low absolute CVD risk was highest in:

  • Victoria/Tasmania (combined, 71%)
  • Inner regional areas (68%).

CVD risk assessment result, by either state/territory or remoteness, reporting period

Two data visualisations are presented here. The first shows the percentage of Indigenous regular clients aged 35–74 with no known history of CVD who had information available to calculate their absolute CVD risk in the last 2 years by CVD risk assessment result (low, medium, high) for either:

  • state/territory (NSW/ACT, Vic, Qld, WA, SA, Tas, NT, Australia)
  • remoteness area (Major cities, Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote, Very remote, Australia).

Reporting periods of either June 2017, December 2017, June 2018, December 2018, June 2019, December 2019, June 2020, December 2020, or June 2021 can be selected.

The second visualisation shows the selected information from the first visualisation by sex (male, female) and age group (35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65–74).

Data supporting this visualisation are available in Excel supplementary data tables at Data.

References

Agostino J, Wong D, Paige E, Wade V, Connell C, Davey ME, Peiris DP, Fitzsimmons D, Burgess CP, Mahoney R, Lonsdale E, Fernando P, Malamoo L, Eades S, Brown A, Jennings G, Lovett RW, Banks E (2020) Cardiovascular disease risk assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged under 35 years: a consensus statement. Medical Journal of Australia, 212(9): 422–427, doi: 10.5694/mja2.50529

 

AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2021) Cardiovascular disease, Cat. no. CVD83, Canberra: AIHW.

RACGP (The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners) (2018) Guidelines for preventive activities in general practice. 9th edition, updated, East Melbourne, Vic: RACGP.