Smoking is Australias deadliest preventable disease
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Worse than obesity, alcohol, high cholesterol, road crashes, illicit drugs or unsafe sex - smoking is still the biggest cause of preventable death and disability in Australia.
A new report released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) today found that of 14 preventable health risks examined, tobacco was the worst cause of disease burden and the single biggest killer.
Killing more than 15,000 people in Australia in 2003, it was responsible for 12 per cent of all deaths in Australia that year.
Next in line as the worst health risks were high blood pressure, high body mass, physical inactivity and high blood cholesterol.
Alcohol, low fruit and vegetable consumption, illicit drugs, occupational hazards, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, air pollution, unsafe sex and osteoporosis were also risk factors, with all preventable risks together accounting for 32 per cent of the total burden of disease and injury in 2003.
Several also contributed to cardiovascular-related deaths such as strokes and heart attacks, which in 2003 killed almost 49,000 people, making up 37 per cent of all deaths in Australia.
AIHW spokesman John Goss said 70 per cent of all cardiovascular disease was caused by at least one of the preventable risk factors examined.
"We could get rid of 70 per cent of all cardiovascular disease if we didn't have these risk factors," Mr Goss said.
"And 30 per cent of cancers if people were not smoking and ate fruit and vegies and weren't overweight or obese."
Responding to the report, The Burden of Disease and Injury in Australia 2003, anti-smoking groups today called for more funding for quit campaigns.
"We should not lose sight of the fact that tobacco is killing many more Australians than the combined total of all other leading causes - including illicit drugs, alcohol, car accidents, breast cancer and homicide," Action on Smoking and Health chief executive Anne Jones said.
"The latest federal budget included much needed new money for chronic diseases - of which smoking is a major risk factor. But there were no new tobacco control initiatives, despite evidence that every dollar spent yields a two dollar return on the investment."
Ms Jones said Australia spent less per capita on tobacco control than New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.
She called for a review of the government's current funding commitment of $9 million a year.
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