Cardiovascular disease caused by obesity

Posted October 26th 2006

by DPS

An Access Economics Report The Economic Costs of Obesity shows that almost 380,000 Australians have cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a result of obesity. This is in addition to the deaths of around 7,000 Australians who die annually from cardiovascular disease because of excess weight.

“In response to these statistics, the Heart Foundation recently launched its “Walk of Life – for all walks of life” campaign about:

·preventing unhealthy weight gain and achieving a healthy body weight

·improving Australians’ eating habits and increasing their physical activity levels, particularly through walking

·helping individuals modify their lifestyle, and

·changing environments and neighbourhoods to make it easier to walk either for recreation or transport and to make healthier food choices.

Cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is a leading cause of death and a major cause of disability in Australia. Recent data reports that nearly 48,000 Australians died from CVD in 2004 accounting for more than one third of all deaths.

Nine out of 10 Australian adults have at least one modifiable risk factor for CVD and one in four have three or more risk factors. These include being overweight or obese, having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and drinking at harmful levels, not being sufficiently active and having diabetes.