Indigenous smoking deaths on the rise despite people butting out

We have seen significant declines in smoking among Indigenous Australian adults over the past two decades that will bring major health benefits over time. Smoking-related deaths among Indigenous Australians are likely to continue to rise and peak over the next decade despite big reductions in smoking over the past 20 years, a new study led by ANU has found. Lead researcher Dr Ray Lovett said the study found the lag between smoking and the onset of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer means the number of smoking deaths was likely to keep climbing. "We have seen significant declines in smoking among Indigenous Australian adults over the past two decades that will bring major health benefits over time," said Dr Lovett from the ANU Research School of Population Health. "But we're seeing tobacco's lethal legacy from when smoking prevalence was at its peak. "On the positive side, we've seen a 43 per cent reduction in cardiovascular disease deaths, mainly from heart attacks, over the past 20 years among Indigenous people, in large part due to people quitting smoking." Smoking rates among Indigenous Australians have dropped from more than half the population in 1994 to two in five adults today. This is still two and a half times higher than the rest of the Australian population.