Hypertension in Australia

Burden of disease

Burden of disease is a measure of the years of healthy life lost from living with ill health (non-fatal burden) or dying prematurely from disease and injury (fatal burden).

High blood pressure risk factor burden

A portion of disease burden is due to modifiable risk factors. Burden of disease analysis estimates the contribution of these risk factors to this burden. These estimates reflect the amount of disease burden that could have been avoided if exposure to the risk factor had been avoided or reduced to the lowest possible exposure.

In 2024, 36% of the total burden of disease in Australia could be prevented by reducing exposure to all the modifiable risk factors (included in the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2024) (AIHW 2024).

In 2024, 4.4% of the total disease burden among Australians was due to high blood pressure. It was the 4^th leading risk factor contributing to disease burden in Australia, after overweight (including obesity), tobacco and dietary risk factors.

High blood pressure contributed to the burden of many diseases. The top 5 disease burdens to which high blood pressure contributed were:

• 61% of hypertensive heart disease
• 40% of coronary heart disease
• 37% of stroke
• 35% of chronic kidney disease
• 29% of atrial fibrillation and flutter (AIHW 2024).

The total disease burden attributable to high blood pressure in 2018 was estimated to be 1.9 times greater in the lowest (most disadvantaged) socioeconomic areas, compared with the highest (least disadvantaged) areas (AIHW 2021).

For more information see Burden of disease.

Hypertensive heart disease burden

In 2024, Australians lost around 16,400 years of healthy life due to living with and dying from hypertensive heart disease. This is equivalent to 0.61 years of healthy life lost per 1,000 population. Most of the burden due to hypertensive heart disease was from dying prematurely (98.7%), compared with 1.3% from living with the condition.

Males experienced more burden (54%) from hypertensive heart disease than females (46%). People aged 60 and over experienced the most burden from hypertensive heart disease, accounting for 83% of the burden from the condition.

In 2024, hypertensive heart disease accounted for 0.3% of the total disease burden and 2.4% of the cardiovascular disease burden (AIHW 2024).

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy

In 2024, Australians lost 421 years of healthy life due to living with and dying from hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Most of the burden was due to living with the condition (86.7%) and 13.3% was due to dying prematurely (AIHW 2024).