Hand on heart – it’s time to call it quits
A new report released today discredits the commonly held belief that heart conditions only affect older men.
Women and Heart Disease, prepared by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for the National Heart Foundation, has revealed that cardiovascular disease – such as heart attacks, stroke and heart failure – kills more Australian women than any other condition.
Of all the women who died in Australia in 2006, more than a third of them died as a result of cardiovascular disease.
It is responsible for more than a quarter of premature deaths amongst Australian women and about two million Australian women—or one in five—are currently living with cardiovascular disease.
However, the most disturbing finding of the report is that some of these deaths could have been prevented. More than nine out of 10 women have at least one preventable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as not getting enough exercise, not eating a healthy diet, smoking or drinking too much alcohol.
“Smoking is a leading cause of heart disease, and today I encourage the 15 per cent of Australian women who smoke every day to call it quits,” says Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Health and Ageing.
“Yesterday, I announced $5 million extra funding for Quitline so that there’s even more support available to anyone who wants to quit smoking.
“Legislation before the Parliament right now will formalise the 25 per cent increase in the tobacco excise, helping 87,000 Australians to quit and deterring many from taking up smoking in the first place..”
The extra funds generated by this change will be directly invested in better health and hospitals through the National Health and Hospitals Network Fund.
Australia is also leading the world by introducing plain packaging for tobacco products from 1 July 2012.
Women and Heart Disease was released recently as part of the Heart Foundation’s annual Go Red for Women campaign, which encourages people to wear red clothing and be aware of their heart health.
In addition to the world’s toughest action on cutting smoking, the Government is also spending a record $872 million on preventative health measures, $103.5 million on the National Binge Drinking Strategy, and $449 million to reduce the impact of diabetes.
For more information about heart disease and the Go Red for Women campaign, see: http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/sites/goredforwomen/Pages/default.aspx, or call the Heart Foundation’s heart health information line on: 1300 362 787.
