Tara Murray
The health of Brimbank residents’ hearts is worse than the national average , with new research finding many people can’t identify any heart attack symptoms.
New research by Monash University found that one in five adults in Australia can’t name any heart attack symptoms, and only around half report chest pain as a symptom.
Published in Heart, Lung and Circulation, the Monash University-led project examined awareness during and following the Heart Foundation’s Warning Signs Campaign, which ran from 2010-2013.
The new cross-sectional study compared awareness across 2010-2014, during and immediately after the campaign, and 2015-2020.
Awareness of chest pain as a heart attack symptom fell from 80 per cent in 2010 to 57 per cent in 2020. The proportion of respondents who could not name a single heart symptom increased from four per cent to 20 per cent.
Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Associate Professor Janet Bray said the findings were very alarming and new approaches were needed to ensure people acted appropriately if symptoms occurred.
Associate Professor Bray said some people in Australia were “definitely” at risk of serious illness or death due to their lack of heart attack knowledge.
The Heart Foundation heart map found that while Brimbank was above the national and state average in most categories.
In Brimbank there were 44.7 hospital admissions per 10,000 people for heart related issues between 2012-16, above the Victorian average of 40.6 and national average of 42.3.
In Brimbank there were 69.6 deaths per 100,000 people caused by coronary heart disease between 2012-20, with the state average 60.2 and the national average 63.8.
Factors that are at risk of heart issues are current smoking, high blood pressure, insufficient exercise and obesity.
In all but high blood pressure, Brimbank was above both the state and national averages. It found that 76.2 per cent of Brimbank residents weren’t getting enough exercise well above the 65.7 per cent for the state and 66.1 per cent nationally.
