news, health, indigenous health, funding, smoking deaths, smoking prevention, quit smoking programs, tobacco, aboriginal, torres strait islander
Smoking causes half of deaths among Indigenous Australians over 45, and one in three deaths across the entire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, a new study has found. Experts have called for more funding to roll out prevention and quit smoking programs to Indigenous communities across the country, after the impact of tobacco was found to be far worse than previously thought. It was previously understood tobacco accounted for one in five deaths across the Indigenous population. The new Australian National University study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on Monday, analysed data from 1388 Aboriginal people who participated in a 2006 study of more than 260,000 people aged 45 and older. Lead author Katie Thurber said it was the first time data specific to tobacco use in Aboriginal Australians had been collated. “Our findings show that we have underestimated the impact of smoking. It causes nearly double the deaths that we previously thought,” Dr Thurber said. “We followed participants for 10 years and examined the risk of death for people who had never smoked, and past and current smokers. “The results show the more cigarettes you smoke, the higher your risk of death.” The study also found smokers were at four times the risk of early death compared to non-smokers. “There’s a great opportunity to save lives through tobacco control and we know we have great Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific approaches that are making huge differences and leading to thousands of lives being saved, but our work shows there’s more than can be done,” Dr Thurber said. Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service runs several prevention and quit smoking programs designed for the local Indigenous community. Chanel Webb coordinates the Tackling Indigenous Smoking Program (TISP) at the centre. She says while the ACT is doing well in providing both community-based prevention programs and localised support through the ACT government funded No More Bunda initiative, not every community had access to those critical services. Around 25 per cent of the Indigenous population in the ACT are smokers, according to 2018-19 data. Nationally, about 40 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were smokers in 2019. “We’re really lucky in the ACT that we have both those supports but unfortunately I don’t think there’s enough across Australia where there is the option of having that face-to-face, one-on-one support,” she said. “Having more of those quit support programs could potentially be one solution.” Ms Webb said the “worrying” findings of the study showed where support services, and greater funding, should be targeted. “User uptake is coming down and our young people are choosing not to smoke. [However], seeing this data shows there needs to be … more direction in focusing on those in our community that have been smoking for a very long time,” she said. Ms Webb said engaging with Aboriginal communities would be a key way to improve current programs and fill gaps. “It’s not acceptable, it’s not OK. It’s about about being innovative as well. What do we have, what exists and what else do we need to do to address this?” “Taking this data back to community and letting them digest them and getting them to have their say on how do we address this, what’s missing, what aren’t we doing that we can do better?” Study co-author and national coordinator for the TISP program Tom Calma said the program needed to be expanded to reach the entire country. “Our national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tobacco control program currently doesn’t reach the whole population,” he said. “We need everyone to have access to appropriate programs and supports to reduce tobacco use. If smoking is a bigger problem than we thought, then funding should be increased to match the size of the problem.”
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Smoking causes half of deaths among Indigenous Australians over 45, and one in three deaths across the entire Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, a new study has found.
Experts have called for more funding to roll out prevention and quit smoking programs to Indigenous communities across the country, after the impact of tobacco was found to be far worse than previously thought.
It was previously understood tobacco accounted for one in five deaths across the Indigenous population.
The new Australian National University study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on Monday, analysed data from 1388 Aboriginal people who participated in a 2006 study of more than 260,000 people aged 45 and older.
Lead author Katie Thurber said it was the first time data specific to tobacco use in Aboriginal Australians had been collated.
“Our findings show that we have underestimated the impact of smoking. It causes nearly double the deaths that we previously thought,” Dr Thurber said.
“We followed participants for 10 years and examined the risk of death for people who had never smoked, and past and current smokers.
“The results show the more cigarettes you smoke, the higher your risk of death.”
The study also found smokers were at four times the risk of early death compared to non-smokers.
“There’s a great opportunity to save lives through tobacco control and we know we have great Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific approaches that are making huge differences and leading to thousands of lives being saved, but our work shows there’s more than can be done,” Dr Thurber said.
Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service runs several prevention and quit smoking programs designed for the local Indigenous community.
Chanel Webb coordinates the Tackling Indigenous Smoking Program (TISP) at the centre.
She says while the ACT is doing well in providing both community-based prevention programs and localised support through the ACT government funded No More Bunda initiative, not every community had access to those critical services.
Around 25 per cent of the Indigenous population in the ACT are smokers, according to 2018-19 data. Nationally, about 40 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were smokers in 2019.
“We’re really lucky in the ACT that we have both those supports but unfortunately I don’t think there’s enough across Australia where there is the option of having that face-to-face, one-on-one support,” she said.
“Having more of those quit support programs could potentially be one solution.”
Ms Webb said the “worrying” findings of the study showed where support services, and greater funding, should be targeted.
“User uptake is coming down and our young people are choosing not to smoke. [However], seeing this data shows there needs to be … more direction in focusing on those in our community that have been smoking for a very long time,” she said.
Ms Webb said engaging with Aboriginal communities would be a key way to improve current programs and fill gaps.
“It’s not acceptable, it’s not OK. It’s about about being innovative as well. What do we have, what exists and what else do we need to do to address this?”
“Taking this data back to community and letting them digest them and getting them to have their say on how do we address this, what’s missing, what aren’t we doing that we can do better?”
Study co-author and national coordinator for the TISP program Tom Calma said the program needed to be expanded to reach the entire country.
“Our national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tobacco control program currently doesn’t reach the whole population,” he said.
“We need everyone to have access to appropriate programs and supports to reduce tobacco use. If smoking is a bigger problem than we thought, then funding should be increased to match the size of the problem.”
