Smoking
- 17.9% of Australians over 14 years are daily or weekly smokers
- 18.0% of males and 15.2% of females over 14 years smoke daily
- 8.6% of teenagers (14-19 years) smoke daily or weekly (1)
Health effects of smoking
Tobacco smoking causes more than 6,600 deaths and 55,000 hospitalisations each year in NSW and remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Australia. (2) Tobacco smoking is a proven risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer. It can also cause emphysema and other respiratory diseases, impotence and infertility. (3)
Passive smoking also contributes significantly to the health of your child and can lead to increased risk of middle ear infection, SIDS, asthma and other breathing problems. (3) In 1999, over 100 children died as a result of passive smoking. (4) In addition, children of smokers are also 4 times more likely to become smokers themselves.
Please see the Children's Hospital at Westmead Passive smoking fact sheet for more information.
Quitting at any stage regardless of sex, age or length of smoking brings benefits to smokers. Most people take several quit attempts before they are successful and each time a person attempts to quit smoking, their chances of successfully quitting for good increases.
Products to help you quit smoking
There are a variety of options that you can use to help support your quit attempt. Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) can help deal with withdrawal. NRT works by replacing the nicotine you get from cigarettes with nicotine from the patch, gum, lozenge, sublingual (under the tongue) tablet or inhaler. Talk to your local pharmacist about NRT.
Talk to your doctor about other medications, such as Zyban and Champix, that are available to help you quit.
Other strategies
Other strategies that may help you to quit are:
- Counselling
- Developing a quit plan which includes:
- Setting a date to quit.
- Reviewing past experience to determine what worked and what didn't work.
- Identifying potential problems and ways to deal with them.
- Getting the support of family and friends.
- Quitting with a friend.
- Reducing alcohol and caffeine use in the first two weeks.
- Avoiding other people's smoke.
- Being aware of stressful or negative events.
- Calling the Quitline 137 848.
- Visiting www.quitnow.info.au or www.health.nsw.gov.au
Talking to a professionally trained counsellor at the Quitline can help provide advice and what to expect during your quit attempt. You can contact the Quitline for free on 137 848 (13 QUIT) or visit the Quit Online site which provides up-to-date information, and allows you to receive personalised quitting advice!
Links to further information
NSW Quitline:
http://www.13quit.org.au/
Quit Coach
http://www.quitcoach.org.au/
Quit now
www.quitnow.info.au
Activestop associated with Nicorette®
www.nicorette.com.au
Click2Quit programme associated with Nicabate®
www.click2quit.com.au
Outsmart Cigarettes
http://www.outsmartcigarettes.com.au/
Oxygen (Information for young people about tobacco and its use in Australia)
http://oxygen.org.au/
Smarter Than Smoking
http://www.smarterthansmoking.org.au/
The Cancer Council NSW
http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=369
NSW Health
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/publichealth/healthpromotion/tobacco/index.asp
References
(1) Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey: first results. Drug Statistics Series number 20.Cat. no. PHE 98. Canberra: AIHW.
(2) NSW Health (2004) Report of the New South Wales Chief Health Officer 2004, 'Health-Related Behaviours. Death and Illness Attributable to Smoking'.
(3) NSW Health (2005) "Let's take a moment" quit smoking brief intervention- a guide for all health professionals. Sydney: NSW Health.
(4) The Cancer Council NSW (n.d.) The Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Children Project. Available from: http://www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=969
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