Clinical guidelines and position statements

We have developed a range of resources for you to use as part of routine care.

Healthcare professionals play an important role in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of cardiovascular disease. Our evidence-based guidelines, tools and resources support you to provide best practice cardiovascular care to your patients.

Clinical guidelines 

The Heart Foundation, often in partnership with the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ), develops high quality, evidence-based clinical guidelines for a range of cardiovascular conditions.

Our guidelines are co-developed with healthcare professionals and consumers to ensure the guidance is relevant and meets the needs of the Australian community.

Find links to our published guidelines, and relevant tools and resources, below.

2023  Australian guideline for assessing and managing CVD risk

2020  Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) - (Guideline developed by RHD Australia and shared with permission) 

2018  Heart failure

2018  Atrial fibrillation  

2016  Hypertension  

2016  Acute coronary syndromes (currently being updated by the Heart Foundation in partnership with the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand) 

Explore our Heart Health Check Toolkit, developed to support general practices to implement absolute cardiovascular disease risk assessment as part of routine patient care.

Position and consensus statements

The Heart Foundation position and consensus statements provide recommendations based on the latest evidence, for specific areas of cardiovascular care in Australia.

Find links to our position and consensus statements, including relevant tools and resources, below.

2021 Position statement: Smoking and vaping cessation

2021 Coronary artery calcium scoring for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in Australia - please note updated advice on coronary artery calcium scoring can be found in the Australian guideline for assessing and managing CVD risk.

2020 Position statement on cardiac rehabilitation: Face-to-face and telehealth delivery options

2020 Cardiovascular disease risk assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged under 35 years

View our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples information and resources for healthcare professionals.  

2013 Screening, referral and treatment for depression in patients with coronary heart disease

View our Nutrition position statements on topics such as heart healthy eating patterns, meat, eggs, dairy, salt and alcohol.

View our Physical activity guidelines, position statements and resources.

We have also developed information and resources specific to women and heart disease.

The Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance (ACDPA) brings together five non-government health organisations to prevent chronic disease in Australia. As a member of ACDPA, the Heart Foundation contributes to the development of numerous position statements on topics including obesity and chronic disease, alcohol taxation, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Find out more about the ACDPA and access their position statements.