What is Heart Disease?
Heart disease refers to a range of conditions that affect the heart and the blood vessels. These conditions sit under the broader term cardiovascular disease, which covers problems with the heart itself as well as the circulation.
There are many different types of heart disease, including:
- Heart failure
- Cardiomyopathy
- Heart rhythm problems (cardiac arrhythmias)
- Ischaemic heart disease
- Heart valve disease
- Pregnancy-related heart conditions
- Pulmonary hypertension
- Heart attacks
- Rheumatic heart disease
- Takotsubo
- Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD)
Some heart diseases are preventable through lifestyle changes and regular health checks, while others are inherited or develop over time.
To learn more about what increases your risk, visit our  Risks  section.
Statistics
Heart, stroke and vascular disease affect around 1.3 million Australian adults (about 7 per cent of the adult population). In 2022, cardiovascular disease was the underlying cause of around 45,000 deaths, close to one in four deaths nationally.
For women, cardiovascular disease remains a major and often under-recognised threat. More than half a million Australian women are living with heart, stroke or vascular disease, and almost one Australian woman dies every hour from heart disease – around 20 women every day.
Cardiovascular disease also places a heavy demand on the health system. In 2021–22 there were about 568,000 hospital admissions where cardiovascular disease was the main reason for admission, and care for people with cardiovascular disease accounts for around 11 per cent of all public hospital spending.