Tracking Australia’s heart health

Goal 1: Vision for heart health equity
Goal 1: 2050 targets
Goal 1: Heart health indicators
Goal 1: Technical notes

Goal 1: Advance equity in heart health

Heart disease can affect anyone but it does not affect everyone equally.¹^-⁴ Our vision for 2050 is that everyone in Australia should have access to the environments, utilities, services, and support that enables heart health.

Tracking Australia’s progress towards two of the 25-year targets set out in Health for Every Heart will help us understand whether the nation is heading in the right direction to achieve Goal 1 through more equitable outcomes for heart health.  

Find out more about what needs to be addressed to reach Goal 1.

Goal 1: 2050 Targets

The gap between heart disease mortality and morbidity rates for First Nations peoples and other Australians will have halved
Heart health disparities between the highest and lowest socioeconomic groups will have reduced by 50%

Goal 1 indicators

We will use 9 indicators to monitor Australia’s progress towards advancing heart health equity (Goal 1).

The first data points for each indicator are summarised in the tables on this page, establishing the baseline value and providing a snapshot of heart health equity in Australia at the beginning of the 25-year vision.

Find out more about:

Table 1. Indicators to monitor Australia’s progress towards the 2050 target: halve the gap in between heart disease mortality and morbidity rates for First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous people in Australia

Find out more about what the baseline values tell us


Indicator	Indicator details	Baseline value	Baseline timepoint#
1.a Mortality due to coronary heart disease – First Nations people	Mortality rate for coronary heart disease: rate gap between First Nations people and non-indigenous people (deaths per 100,000 population)	54.6*	2024
	Mortality rate for coronary heart disease: rate ratio of deaths per 100,000 population from First Nations people to non-indigenous people	2.2	2024
1.b Prevalence of cardiovascular disease – First Nations people	Rate of self-reported cardiovascular conditions: rate gap between First Nations people and non-indigenous people (cases per 100 people)	7.7*	2017-19
	Rate of self-reported cardiovascular conditions: rate ratio of First Nations people to non-indigenous people	1.5	2017-19
1.c Emergency department cases of cardiovascular disease – First Nations people	Emergency department presentations with principal diagnosis of cardiovascular disease: rate gap between First Nations people and non-indigenous people (per 100,000 population)	1,555*	2022-23
	Emergency department presentations with principal diagnosis of cardiovascular disease: rate ratio of First Nations people to non-indigenous people	2.5*	2022-23
1.d Burden of cardiovascular disease – First Nations people	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular disease: rate gap between First Nations people and non-indigenous people (DALYs per 1,000 population)	30.0	2018
1.d Burden of cardiovascular disease – First Nations people	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular disease: rate ratio of First Nations people to non-indigenous people	2.4	2018
1.e Rheumatic heart disease – new diagnoses	Diagnoses for rheumatic heart disease (cases per 100,000 population) – First Nations peoples	54.1	2024
1.e Rheumatic heart disease – new diagnoses	Diagnoses for rheumatic heart disease (cases per 100,000 population) – all people	3.9	2024

_{# The timepoint refers to the reference period for the source data set and not the release date.}

_{‡ Data needs further development. Best estimate of national data produced using analysis of individual jurisdictional data.}

Table 2. Indicators to monitor Australia’s progress towards the 2050 target: reduce by 50% the heart health disparities between the highest and lowest socioeconomic groups

Find out more about what the baseline values tell us about the starting point for this target.


Indicator	Indicator details	Baseline value	Baseline timepoint#
1.f Emergency department cases of cardiovascular disease – socioeconomic status	Emergency department presentations with principal diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (per 100,000 population): rate ratio of the lowest to highest socioeconomic areas†	1.9	2022-23
1.g Burden of cardiovascular disease – socioeconomic status	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular diseases: rate gap between the rates for lowest and highest socioeconomic areas† (DALYs per 1,000 population)	13.1	2018
1.g Burden of cardiovascular disease – socioeconomic status	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular diseases: rate ratio of the lowest to highest socioeconomic areas†	1.8	2018
1.f Emergency department cases of cardiovascular disease – remoteness	Emergency department presentations with principal diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (per 100,000 population): rate ratio of the for remote/very remote areas and major cities†	1.8	2022-23
1.g Burden of cardiovascular disease – remoteness	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular diseases: rate gap between the rates for remote/very remote areas and major cities† (DALYs per 1,000 population)	17.7	2018
1.g Burden of cardiovascular disease – remoteness	Total burden of disease for cardiovascular diseases: rate ratio of the for remote/very remote areas and major cities†	1.9	2018

_{# The timepoint refers to the reference period for the source data set and not the release date.}

_{† In AIHW analyses, socioeconomic areas are defined by five groups using the ABS Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage and remoteness areas are defined by the ASGS Remoteness Area structure based on Statistic Area Level 2 (SA2) of usual residence.}_{Find out more.}

_{“Adults” refers to people 18 years and over unless otherwise specified.}

Abbreviations

ABS – Australian Bureau of Statistics

AIHW – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

DALY – disability adjusted life years

Notes

Data availability and completeness

In some areas of heart health, data development will be needed to improve the indicators and the way we track some of the Health for Every Heart targets.

Data sources for Goal 1 indicators

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous Health Performance Framework. 1.05 Cardiovascular disease. Table D1.05.2: Persons (aged 2 and over) reporting heart/circulatory (cardiovascular) conditions, by remoteness, Indigenous status, age, sex and jurisdiction, 2017–18 and 2018–19. ABS and AIHW analysis using ABS source data from National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2018–19 (ABS) and the National Health Survey 2017-18 (ABS).
National Rheumatic Heart Disease Data Collection. Table 4.7a: Incidence of new RHD diagnoses among First Nations people by age and sex, 2024.
Heart, stroke and vascular diseases report 2024.

“Treatment and Management” Table 7: Emergency Department presentations with principal diagnosis of Cardiovascular disease, by population group and sex, 2022–23
“Impact” Table 3: Burden of disease (DALY) for cardiovascular disease, by age group, population group and sex

Australian Bureau of Statistics

Causes of death. Table 12.1 Underlying causes of death, Top 20 leading causes by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin, All persons, NSW, Qld, SA, WA and NT, 2024

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Heart, stroke and vascular disease: Australian facts.
Gardiner FW, Rallah-Baker K, Dos Santos A, et al. Indigenous Australians have a greater prevalence of heart, stroke, and vascular disease, are younger at death, with higher hospitalisation and more aeromedical retrievals from remote regions. eClinicalMedicine. 2021;42:101181.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in Australia.

Heart health indicators

Goal 2: Create environments and systems that enable healthy behaviours

Health for Every Heart