DEPARTMENT of Human Services figures have painted a damning picture of cardiovascular health in the Loddon Mallee region.
The region has the highest percentage of men suffering heart disease anywhere in the state and almost double the average proportion of obese people aged between 25 and 35.
More than one third of adults are overweight and almost one in five are categorised as obese.
Loddon Mallee residents lagged in a number of other statistics, with more than one third of women in the region suffering high blood pressure and a greater prevalence of local women, almost eight per cent, reporting heart disease.
Heart Foundation Victoria chief executive officer Kathy Bell said local health services would struggle to cope with demand in coming years should the region’s most unhealthy residents continue their damaging behaviour.
‘‘That’s going to place a strain on local services,’’ Ms Bell said.
‘‘Right through the whole health spectrum you are likely to see a great demand for health care as people face serious heart disease problems.
‘‘Quite a lot of your young adults in the Loddon Mallee region are classified as being overweight or obese… so that does mean that you have a high number of people in that age bracket who are carrying a major risk of not only heart disease, but type two diabetes and other chronic diseases.’’
Ms Bell said isolating the regional factors that had contributed to the statistics, which were released earlier this month by the DHS in conjunction with the Heart Foundation as part of Heart Week, was a difficult task.
‘‘It’s very hard to understand the reasons behind these statistics,’’ she said.
‘‘We know that the prevalence of heart disease can be higher among certain groups and that some of the factors for heart disease such as smoking or being overweight can be related to having lower socio-economic status,’’ she said.
‘‘But that may not be why we are seeing these statistics here as opposed to other regions.’’
Contrary to the worrying statistics, men aged 18-24 in the region were almost four times less likely to be categorised as having insufficient physical inactivity when compared with other males in their age group.
And a higher percentage of adults in the region, when compared with the state average, had reported having a blood cholesterol test in the two years prior to the study.
Bendigo Community Health Services manager of healthy communities Kaye Graves said the concerning figures could have a silver lining if they spurred local residents into action.
‘‘If we do know we have these high heart disease rates, then we can work on early diagnosis and better management to prevent some of the damaging effects,’’ Ms Graves said.
‘‘People need to analyse their lifestyle and do everything in moderation.
‘‘You can be walking around with heart disease for seven years and not be aware of it, and how many people have we heard say `he suddenly got chest pain, no prior warning’ but he may not have had a check-up for five years.’’
A Bendigo Health spokeswoman said the hospital noticed the worrying trend and had started to equip itself for the battle against the bulge.
‘‘We are certainly seeing a higher incidence of overweight patients and have recently purchased equipment specifically to cater for this sector of the community,’’ she said.