Smoking kills half of all older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults

The SMH 25/1 leads with the headline to introduce a recent Australian National University report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults.

The January 2021 report “Tobacco smoking and mortality among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in Australia” published in the International Journal of Epidemiology highlights the differences in smoking related morbidity between both generations within the study group and differences compared to non indigenous populations, summarising that “Smoking causes half of deaths in older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults; Indigenous tobacco control must receive increased priority”.

The paper’s co-author Associate Professor Raymond Lovett, a Ngiyampaa (Wongaibon) man, said while the smoking rate in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults was higher than the general population - 40 per cent compared to 14 per cent - the rate of smoking had decreased by 11 per cent over the past 10 to 15 years which is “fantastic news”.

Many of this studies’ authors also contributed to a 2017 report - “Deadly progress: changes in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult daily smoking, 2004–2015” .

The Guardian reported in 2016 reductions in indigenous smoking rates whilst Tobacco in Australia reports current numbers (January 20)