Logan City residents might need to re-evaluate their health habits after the Logan-Beaudesert region came in among Australia’s top 20 hotspots for heart disease deaths and hospitalisations.
According to the National Heart Foundation, the region has the third highest heart disease deaths in Australia, and the 11th highest heart-related hospitalisations.
Queensland is home to eight of the nation’s 20 worst hotspots for heart disease deaths, and 11 of the 20 worst for heart-related hospitalisations. Most of these are in regional Queensland.
The Heart Foundation has four key priorities to turn these figures around:
- Improving cardiac services for regional Queenslanders by continuing the delivery of outreach cardiac services across all regional areas;
- Ensuring everyone can access cardiac rehabilitation programs by providing face to face group programs or remote delivered programs;
- Continuing work towards ending the burden of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland; and
- Boosting funding for the Queensland Cardiac Outcomes Register of heart conditions to improve the safety and quality of cardiac care.
Heart disease is a leading killer in Australia. People living with heart disease are also more vulnerable to experiencing severe complications if infected with COVID-19.
On average, 15 people die and 246 are hospitalised for heart disease every day in Queensland.
Heart Foundation Queensland CEO, Stephen Vines, said investing in preventive health will be vital to keep people healthy and resilient as the state deals with the challenges arising from COVID-19.
“Sadly, Queensland dominates Australia’s heart disease hotspots, and people living in regional and remote areas are faring worse than their big city counterparts,” Mr Vines said.
“Significant disadvantage, coupled with difficulty accessing services, has meant some regional patients are unable to get the medical help they need to diagnose and treat heart conditions.
“All Queenslanders, regardless of where they live, deserve life-saving cardiac services when they need it.
“Increasing cardiac rehab options and improving access to programs state-wide will give patients the best chance of recovering from a heart condition and avoiding going back to hospital.
“It is also vital we continue to invest in reducing the burden of RHD, an insidious disease that stems largely from social disadvantage and mainly affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
Heart disease hotspots
Regions with highest age-standardised rates of heart-related hospitalisations, with national ranking:
Queensland Outback (2)
Wide Bay (4)
Ipswich (5)
Moreton Bay-North (7)
Mackay-Isaac-Whitsundays (9)
Logan-Beaudesert (11)
Central Queensland (12)
Brisbane-North (13)
Darling Downs-Maranoa (14)
Cairns (15)
Townsville (16)
Regions with highest age-standardised rates of heart disease deaths, with national ranking:
Queensland Outback (2)
Logan-Beaudesert (3)
Brisbane-South (6)
Townsville (10)
Darling Downs-Maranoa (12)
Ipswich (13)
Moreton Bay-North (17)
Wide Bay (20)
