FNQ hit hard by cardiac disease

MORE than 400 people in the Cairns region have lost their lives to heart disease in just five years, new data has revealed.

Between 2012-16, there were 417 deaths in the Far North as a result of heart disease.

With 104 deaths per year, two deaths are recorded each week.

The findings come as heart disease has been has been unmasked as Australia’s leading cause of death.

Queensland has emerged as the nation’s heart disease hot spot with eight regions in the nation’s top 20 for heart disease deaths.

New data from the Heart Foundation has revealed that smoking rates and obesity in Cairns are significantly higher than the national average and are driving the higher risk of heart disease.

While the prevalence of high cholesterol in Cairns has been identified as significantly lower than the national average, high blood pressure-inadequate levels of exercise are in line with the national average.

Still reeling from the floods that devastated their town and cattle properties, Cloncurry residents have a new woe after being identified as having the highest heart disease death rate in Queensland and the third highest in the nation.

In 2017, 3970 people died from heart disease in Queensland – 12.6 per cent of all deaths compared to the national average per state of 11.6 per cent of all deaths.

The state has the second highest proportion of obese people. In 2017-18, 31.7 per cent of Queenslanders were obese compared to 27.9 per cent nationally; a further 37.6 per cent of Queenslanders were overweight. Queensland has the nation’s third highest number of smokers at 15.1 per cent compared to the national average of 14 per cent.

Heart Foundation CEO John Kelly said heart disease hot spot areas have a large proportion of residents with significant disadvantage.

“What we are trying to achieve, if we can, is to educate the population about the warning signs of heart disease and get them to have a heart health check,” he said.