National Report Card on Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Launched in Heart Week on May 1st 2023, Her Heart has created the First National Report Card on the status of Cardiovascular Disease in women in Australia.

The Report Card presents all the key statistics and metrics related to the incidence, prevalence, and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) for women.

You can download the Abbreviated version – Image and References here

You can download the Expanded version here

A snapshot of some of the shocking statistics are below:

Overall morbidity & mortality:

• Over 2.1 million women in Australia have CVD
• 115,000 have had a heart attack
• 500,000 are at risk of having their first CVD event
• 590,000 at high risk of another CVD event
• 50,000 are hospitalised with heart disease
• 1 in 6 women have CVD

Disparities in deaths:

• Over 53% of all deaths are linked to CVD
• 4 deaths (per 100) ACS compared to 2.1 for men
• 11 deaths per 100 stroke hospitalisations compared to 7.8 men 

Disparities in care, Under-diagnosed & Under-treated:

• Less angiograms – 36% compared to 44% of men
• Less interventions such as Stents – 26% versus 35% of men
• Less likely to get surgery (CABG) 8% versus 20% of men
• 50% of those at high risk of having another event take lipid lowering meds as opposed to 60% of men
• 64% at high risk of another event taking antihypertensive’s compared to 72% of men

Disparities for First Nations Women:

• 2.4 X at higher risk than non-indigenous women
• 1.9 X higher rate of heart disease deaths than non-indigenous women

Poor Risk Factor awareness and prevention:

• 33% are not doing any exercise
• 21% have high Blood Pressure
• 60% are overweight or Obese
• 12% are smokers 

The need for ACTION as poor awareness:

• 1% of women annually have a heart health check
• 54% have NEVER had a heart health check
• 91% believe there is NOT enough public awareness around women and heart disease.