Half of all deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian adults linked to smoking
Smoking causes around 50 percent of deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians over 45 years of age according to a report published January 25th in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The report, titled ‘Tobacco smoking and mortality among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in Australia’ is a world first and highlights smoking’s surprisingly high influence on life expectancy within the Indigenous community of NSW. Ray Lovett, the Studies Co-author, Associate Professor of ANU’s College of Health and Medicine and Study Director of Mayi Kuwayu believes the results are likely to be reflected nationally and in Indigenous peoples globally.
While trends suggest link between smoking and mortality will likely decrease with younger generations, current statistics remain a cause for concern.
See the full report at;
https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ije/dyaa274/6118443?login=true