Key findings
- Tobacco smoking is more prominent among older age groups and there appears to be an ageing cohort of illicit drug users.
- The majority of daily smokers in 2016 consisted of people aged 40 and over (57% compared with 43% for people under 40).
- Tobacco is the leading risk factor for the burden of disease among people aged 65-84.
- Females in their 50s (13%) and males between 55–64 (28.8%) were the most likely age cohorts to exceed lifetime risk guidelines by consuming on average more than 2 standard drinks per day.
- People in their 60s were most likely to exceed the single occasion risky drinking guidelines on at least 5 days per week (7.0% in 2016 up from 5.7% in 2013).
- Recent use of any illicit drug has nearly doubled among males in their 50s (from 8.1% to 15.0% in 2016) and males aged 60 and over (from 4.0% to 7.9%), between 2001 and 2016.
- There has been an increase in drug-induced deaths among older people since 1999.
Older people make up a considerable proportion of Australia’s population. In 2017, over 1 in 7 people were aged 65 and over and the number and proportion of older Australians is expected to continue to grow [1]. Older people have unique health circumstances including pain, co-morbidities, and social circumstances such as isolation [2]. These contextual factors are important to consider in the context of alcohol and other drug use. Refer to Box OLD1 for how ‘older people’ are defined in this report.
Box OLD1: How do we define ‘old’?
Most population data define ‘old’ as persons aged 65 and over to align with the qualifying age for the Age pension. However, this section will generally refer to people aged 50 and over in order to capture people who may be ageing prematurely due to alcohol and other drug use, and to include the ‘Baby Boomer’ cohort [3]. The different older age cohorts are specified where relevant.
Tobacco smoking
Tobacco is one of the leading risk factors contributing to the burden of disease for older Australians. Specifically, tobacco is the leading risk factor for males aged 45–94 and females aged 45–84 [4].
Data from the 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) showed that the smoking rate for older age groups is not declining at the same rate as that for younger age groups [5].
Daily smoking
- In 2001, daily smokers were more likely to be aged under 40 than aged 40 and over (56% compared with 44%). But as these cohorts have aged over time and as more young people are not taking up smoking, the majority of daily smokers in 2016 consisted of people aged 40 and over (57% compared with 43% for people under 40) (Table S3.24).
Number of cigarettes
- In 2016, people in their 50s (109 cigarettes), 60s (117 cigarettes) and over 70 (111 cigarettes) smoked a greater number of cigarettes per week on average, than younger people aged 14–19 (58 cigarettes) and 20–29 (70 cigarettes) (Table S3.25).
- In 2016, over one-third (37%) of daily smokers were smoking a pack-a-day. This was highest among smokers in their 50s with almost 1 in 2 (48%) smoking 20 or more cigarettes per day (Table S3.26).
Intentions to quit
- In 2016, 1 in 3 (33%) daily smokers and 1 in 4 (26%) occasional smokers were not planning to quit smoking (Table S3.27)—and these intentions were highest among smokers aged 70 and over (49%) (Table S3.28).
- The main reason older smokers do not want to quit were because they enjoy it (ranging from 52% for 40–49 years olds to 69% for 70 year older and older) (Table S3.29).
Alcohol consumption
Data from the 2016 NDSHS indicated that older people drink more regularly than those in younger age groups. However, people from younger age groups were more likely to consume alcohol in excess of single occasion risk guidelines and to consume alcohol heavily (11 or more standard drinks on a single occasion) [5].
Daily drinking
- Between 2013 and 2016, people aged 60–69 experienced a significant decline in daily drinking from 12.3% to 10.2%, while for most other age groups there were slight but insignificant declines (Table S3.32).
- Those aged 70 and over continue to be the age group most likely to drink daily, for both males (19.5%) and females (8.7%) [5] (Table S3.33).
Lifetime risk
- Among females, those aged in their 50s (13.0%) are now the most likely to drink at levels that exceed the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) lifetime risk guidelines by drinking on average more than two standard drinks per day. This age cohort has replaced females aged 18–24 (12.8%) who were previously the most likely to drink at risky levels.
- Among males, those aged 55–64 (28.8%) were the most likely age cohort to drink at levels exceeding guidelines for lifetime risk [5] (Table S3.34).
- This is largely consistent with data from the National Health Survey that showed older people (aged 55–74) are the most likely age cohort to exceed lifetime risk guidelines [6].
Single occasion risk
- People aged 70 and over were the least likely to exceed the NHMRC single occasion risk guidelines, with only 1 in 10 (11.0%) consuming more than 4 standard drinks on a single occasion in the past year (Figure OLD1). This is consistent with data from the National Health Survey [6].
- However, people in their 60s were most likely to exceed this guideline on at least 5 days per week (7.0% in 2016 up from 5.7% in 2013), suggesting that older people engage in risky levels of alcohol consumption more regularly [5] (Table S3.35).
High risk alcohol consumption
- The proportion of people in their 50s (from 9.1% to 11.9%) and 60s (from 4.7% to 6.1%) consuming 11 or more standard drinks on a single drinking occasion in the past 12 months significantly increased between 2013 and 2016, thus placing them at a high risk of alcohol-related harm. This was also the case for people in their 50s in the last month (from 4.1% in 2013 to 5.8% in 2016) [5] (Table S3.36).