This week is Australia’s national heart health awareness week, Heart Week, which runs from 6-12 May. The Heart Foundation is encouraging Australians to never miss a beat and start a conversation with their health professional about the positive steps they can take to reduce their heart disease risk.
Heart disease remains Australia’s leading cause of death, with one Australian experiencing a heart attack or stroke every 4 minutes.
The disease accounts for nearly one in five (17.1%) of deaths in Australia, which is one every 18 minutes or 79 deaths every day.
While these statistics are sobering, the ‘silver lining’ is that deaths from heart disease have been decreasing over the last 10 years.
Preventative measures like education, screening and monitoring of conditions such as blood pressure, smoking cessation interventions and other lifestyle modifications including diet and exercise all play a vital role in improving outcomes for patients for better health.
So this Heart Week, get involved and never miss a beat.
Comprehensive resources are available to support participation in the week. To access the resources, and to discover more about Heart Week visit heartfoundation.org.au/heart-week.
To listen to Grace Lee, a pharmacist providing Holter monitoring services through her pharmacy, listen to the latest Guild Dispensary podcast episode:
