Page 1156 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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Mr Speaker, at the moment if an Australian is to die there will be a one in three chance that the person will die of cardiovascular disease. There is also a strong likelihood that this person will not have reached their average life expectancy, was probably overweight, smoked and was inactive. Heart disease probably affected their quality of life for many years before their death and possibly caused great expense to the public health system, their employer and their family.
Studies conducted last year by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that roughly 80 per cent of the adult population in Australia presented at least one sign pointing to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This included adults that smoked, were inactive, had high blood pressure or were overweight. More specifically, this study found that over the past decade 3.6 million Australians aged 25 and over had high blood pressure or were on medication for that condition. An estimated 7.5 million Australians aged 25 and over were overweight or obese, 3.1 million adult Australians aged 14 and over smoked regularly, and more than 5.8 million adult Australians did not undertake physical activity at the levels recommended to achieve a health benefit. The same report also found that people who were physically inactive were almost twice as likely to have a fatal or non-fatal coronary event. Similarly, for those who smoked there was a 70 per cent greater risk of death from a coronary event than for those who did not smoke.
The problem with heart disease is that these factors, while alarming in isolation, become even more threatening when in combination with other risks. For instance, the Heart Foundation publicised in March 2005 that smoking roughly doubles the likelihood of heart attack. However, this risk doubles again if you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, increases 10 times in women using the contraceptive pill, doubles the risk of stroke and increases the risk of gangrene by more than five times. Herein lies the danger of cardiovascular disease. Its propensity rises progressively as the intensity of risk factors increases.
This is particularly concerning when we consider that 80 per cent of the Australian population presented at least one sign pointing to an increased risk of heart disease. This becomes even more alarming when, realistically, it would be unlikely that these people would present only a single risk factor. What we then have is a vast proportion of the Australian population who are at a significant risk of suffering or dying from cardiovascular disease.
What this means is that cardiovascular disease is a massive public health problem and a significant cost for the health system each year. In 2004 the total financial cost of cardiovascular disease was estimated at $14.2 billion, the equivalent of 11 per cent of total federal health spending, or 1.7 per cent of Australia’s total GDP. More specifically, the costs associated with the direct medical treatment of cardiovascular disease cost $7.6 billion last year, or just over half of the total annual costs associated with the disease. Alarmingly, if current trends continue, these costs are likely to blow out to $11.5 billion by 2011.
While these figures are significant, they are difficult to compare with the indirect costs that have been associated with cardiovascular disease. These costs include those associated with living or suffering with cardiovascular disease and caring for those with
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