Cardiovascular Disease In Australia

INTRODUCTION

The term cardiovascular disease (CVD) is used to describe many different conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels. The most common and serious types of CVD in Australia are coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and heart failure (AIHW, 2015; Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012) . According to the National Health Survey 5.2% of Australians had heart diseases in 2014-2015, which is an increase from 4.7% in 2011-2012 when only one million people had heart disease (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2015). The twenty nine percent of Australian deaths had CVD as the underlying cause of death, that is 45,000 deaths in 2014. 43% in the lowest socioeconomic group compared with the highest for CVD death rates, and 24% higher for

These eight areas with the highest admission rates were ranked in the top three of ten socioeconomic categories of disadvantage. In contrast, local government areas such as Kingborough, Hobart and West Tamar, had admission rates below 39 per 10,000 people. The results showed that there is a direct link between the hospital admission rates and the socio-economic disadvantage in some areas. Risk factors for heart diseases are more in Tasmanian population than in all over Australia e.g. cholesterol, high blood pressure,

; Physical activity is a major modifiable risk factor for a range of chronic conditions with inactivity contributing to other risk factors such as overweight or obese BMI, and high cholesterol and blood pressure levels. The National Physical Activity Guidelines (DHAC 1999) recommend that a person should participate in 30 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week to gain health benefits. There has been a statistically significant reduction since 2009 in the proportion of Tasmanian adults who are sufficiently