Overview

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. CVD remains a major health problem in Australia, despite declining mortality and hospitalisation rates.

Latest findings

5.6% of Australian adults had 1 or more conditions related to heart or vascular disease, including stroke, in 2017–18 15% of acute hospitalisations for stroke had an additional diagnosis of AF in 2017-18 The age-standardised hospitalisation rate for AF (principal diagnosis) increased by 42% between 2000–01 and 2017–18 More than 1 in 4 deaths were due to CVD in 2018 The proportion of AF hospitalisations which had a cardiac ablation undertaken has increased steadily since 2004–05 There were more than 1.2 million hospitalisations for CVD in 2017–18 (11% of all hospitalisations) AF (principal diagnosis) hospitalisation rate was 1.5 times as high for males as for females, in 2017-18 More than 4 in 5 (83%) CVD hospitalisations occurred in those aged 55 and over In 2017-08, 0.7% of hospitalisations had a principal diagnosis of AF The proportion of AF related deaths almost doubled from 4.6% in 2001 to 9.0% in 2018 CVD hospitalisation rates were 30% higher among those living in Remote and very remote areas as those in Major Cities Indigenous Australians had CVD hospitalisation and death rates that were over 50% higher than non-Indigenous Australians

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Highlights

An estimated 1.2 millionAustralian adults had 1 or more heart or vascular conditions, including stroke, in 2017–18, based on self-reported data
CVDaccounted for almost 14% of Australia’s total burden of disease in 2015
Indigenous Australianshad CVD hospitalisation and death rates that were more than 60% higher than non-Indigenous Australians
Those living in Remote and very remote areas had CVD hospitalisation and death rates that were more than 30% higher than those living in Major cities
1 in 4deaths in 2018 had CVD as the underlying cause of death
More than 1.2 millionhospitalisations were associated with CVD (principal and/or additional diagnosis) in 2017–18— 11% of all hospitalisations in Australia
The CVD death rate was 50% higher among those living in the lowest socioeconomic area compared to those in the highest socioeconomic area