Smoking
What about smoking?
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. Many medical conditions caused by smoking can result not just in death, but in living for years with disabling health problems.1Smoking harms people of all ages. Scientific evidence confirms that smokers face significantly increased risks of death and or illness from numerous cancers, heart disease, stroke, atherosclerosis, emphysema and other respiratory diseases, sudden infant death syndrome, pregnancy complications and many more conditions. Those who smoke are also less physically fit and have more breathing problems.2
Exposure to second-hand smoke also causes premature death and disease in children and adults who do not smoke.3
Quitting at any age has benefits, with the largest reduction in risk in those who quit the earliest.4
Visit QuitNow for further information and support to help you quit smoking.
1Begg S, Vos T, Barker B, Stevenson C, Stanley L, Lopez AD, 2007. The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003. PHE 82. Canberra AIHW.
2U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2004. The health consequences of smoking: a report of the Surgeon General. [Atlanta, Ga.]: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; Washington, D.C.
3U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2006. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. [Atlanta, Ga.]. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health. Washington, D.C.
4Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years observation on male British doctors. British Medical Journal. June 2004, 328:1519.
2U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2004. The health consequences of smoking: a report of the Surgeon General. [Atlanta, Ga.]: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; Washington, D.C.
3U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2006. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. [Atlanta, Ga.]. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health. Washington, D.C.
4Doll R, Peto R, Boreham J, Sutherland I. Mortality in relation to smoking: 50 years observation on male British doctors. British Medical Journal. June 2004, 328:1519.