Statistics

General Heart Statistics

• Cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke and blood vessel disease) is still the leading cause of death in New Zealand, accounting for 40% of deaths annually. [1]
• Every 90 minutes a New Zealander dies from coronary heart disease  
• Many of these deaths are premature and preventable.
• Obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases including coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis and some cancers. [2]
• One in eighteen adults have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease. That's 193,000 adults [2]
• About one million adults are now obese in New Zealand. [2]
• One in five New Zealanders older than 15 smoke. [1]
• It is estimated that 5,000 people in New Zealand die prematurely from smoking each year - this equates to around 12 people a day dying from smoking. [3]

Women's Heart Disease

Worldwide 3.4million women die from heart disease each year, accounting for a third of all deaths in women.

The picture of women’s heart health in New Zealand:

• 2514 women died of heart disease [1]
• That’s about 7 a day – 48 a week.
• Women who smoke risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than non-smoking women.
• Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain.
• 42% of women who have heart attacks die within 1 year, compared to 24% of men.
• Under age 50, women’s heart attacks are twice as likely as men’s to be fatal.

Sources:

[1] 2010 Ministry of Health Mortality data
[2] Ministry of Health. 2013 NZ HEalth Survey. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
[3] Ministry of Health. 2009. Implementing the ABC approch for Smoking Cessation. Framework and Work Programme. Wellington: Ministry of Health.
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/cardiovasculardisease