Key Statistics: Coronary Heart Disease

Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs when a coronary artery clogs and narrows because of a buildup of plaque.  

CHD is the leading cause of death in Australia1. Deaths from CHD represent 78,052 years of potential life lost in Australia. 

Prevalence²

• 2.4 per cent of people report they’re living with CHD, accounting for almost 580,000 people. 

• It’s more common for men (3.2 per cent) to report living with CHD than women (1.7%). 

• Positively, the prevalence of CHD has been decreasing over time. 

Deaths³

• CHD claims more lives than any other disease, responsible for more than one in ten of all deaths. 

• This equates to CHD killing one person every 29 minutes, or on average 50 people every day. 

• After adjusting for population growth and age distribution, twice as many males die from coronary heart disease compared to females. 

• Encouragingly, after adjusting for population growth and age distribution, deaths have decreased on average 4.7% per year over the last decade. 

Hospitalisations⁴

• Approximately 443 people are hospitalised for CHD every day, equating to, on average, one person every three minutes. 

• More than twice as many men are hospitalised due to CHD, compared to women. 

• Positively, hospital admissions for CHD have been decreasing over the last ten years. 

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020, Causes of Death 2019, cat. no. 3303.0, September Ischaemic heart disease or Coronary Heart Disease accounted for the highest number of deaths and the second highest number of years of potential life lost (78,052). 

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, National Health Survey 2017-18, Data customised using TableBuilder  

3. Australian Bureau of Statistics 2020, Causes of Death 2019, cat. no. 3303.0, October  

4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2019, National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD)