Heart Disease
Heart disease generally refers to any disease, condition or illness of the heart that causes damage or loss to the heart's structure, function or the blood vessels supplying the heart.
Heart Facts
Cardiovascular disease - heart, stroke and blood vessel disease - is the leading cause of death in Australia.
- Heart Disease accounts for an astonishing one-third of all deaths, killing one Australian every 10 minutes.
- Heart Disease is Australia’s number one health problem.
- The cost of heart disease to the community is estimated at around $6 billion a year.
Risk Factors
- Smoking
- Family history of heart disease
- Obesity or overweight
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Anxiety or stress
- Lack of physical activity
Take heart
Death by cardiovascular disease is largely preventable. Early detection and treatment over the past ten years have resulted in a clear decline in mortality rates.
The PA Reseach Foundation supports the heart researchers on the Princess Alexandra Hospital Campus who have made a significant contribution to the management, treatment and decline in the number of people affected by heart disease.
Today, PA researchers are investigating...
- How stiffness of the heart muscle and arteries can be reduced to prevent hypertension and heart failure
- How exercise and diet can prevent or reverse cardiovascular disease
- Physiological factors underlying abnormal blood pressure response
- Associations between diabetic myocardial disease and cardiac dysfunction
- New drugs to prevent heart attacks and stroke
- Physiological testing to guide heart failure management
Tips for a healthy heart
Moderate exercise helps keep the heart muscle strong and the arteries flexible, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure increases overall energy and helps elevate and stabilize mood.
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Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
Legumes and lentils
Wholgrain choices
Lean meat
Oily fish
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Dairy and meat high in fat
Saturated fats
Take-away and snack foods
Cakes and confectionery
Salt
Alcohol
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Did You Know
On average the adult heart pumps five to six litres of blood around the body per minute and about 1 million barrels of blood in a lifetime - that is enough to fill more than three super tankers. The first human implant of a pacemaker was in 1960. The entire human vascular (blood) system, including arteries, veins and capillaries, is more than 37000 km’s long (enough to go around the world twice). The first heart transplant was conducted in 1967. The average blood cell makes a round trip through the body's arteries every 60 seconds and can hit speeds of up to 16 km an hour. The normal heart weighs 10.5 ounces and is about the size of your fist
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