Tobacco Use and its Health Impact in Australia was
released to day by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The report outlines patterns and trends in tobacco use in
Australia, the health effects of tobacco use on smokers, and the
health care costs that result.
Patterns and trends
- From the early 1900s there was a rapid uptake of smoking among
men. The uptake among women occurred around 1940, and was also
rapid. Since the mid-1970s, fewer adults have smoked.
- In 1994-95, 28% of men and 22% of women aged 18 and over were
smokers.
- During the 1980s the percentage of secondary school students
who smoked cigarettes fell. In 1993, 28% of boys and 31% of girls
aged 17 smoked.
- Smoking is more prevalent among Indigenous peoples. In 1994,
54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males and 46% of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females aged 13 years and
over smoked.
- There is a higher prevalence of smoking among the less
well-off.
Health effects
- In 1992, active cigarette smoking accounted for an estimated
15% (18,920 deaths) of all deaths, and 22% (8,044 deaths) of deaths
among 35- to 69-year-olds.
- Lung cancer, coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive
lung disease, including asthma, are the biggest contributors to
tobacco-related death and illness.
- The impact of tobacco related disease is greater for Indigenous
peoples and the less well-off, where smoking is more common.
- As smoking rates in adults have fallen, so have death rates for
coronary heart disease and chronic obstructive lung disease. Since
the early 1980s, lung cancer incidence and death rates have fallen
for males but increased in females. This difference is explained by
different patterns in men and women of taking up and quitting
smoking.
Health care costs
- In 1989-90, the costs of hospital, medical, pharmaceutical,
nursing home and allied professional care for tobacco related
disease in Australia totalled $672 million.
23 October 1996
Further information: Anne-Marie Waters, ph. 02
6244 1127 or 04 1923 9582 (mobile), or Paul Jelfs, ph. 02 6244
1140.
For media copies of the report and general media
liaison: Amanda Nobbs, ph. 02 6244 1028 or 02 6242 6232
(ah).
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications Catalogue
for details.