What’s sparking increase of smoking in Canterbury?
Smoking appears to have increased in Canterbury at odds with a national downwards trend, with experts pointing the finger at earthquakestress and immigration.
New Zealand Health Survey data indicates that in the years since the earthquakes, the region’s smoking rate rose from 13 per cent to 17 per cent. Health experts caution more data is needed as the survey was based on small numbers.
The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) noted the trend in its latest annual report.
‘‘After a number of years where smoking rates in Canterbury were declining, the trend appears to be shifting and is contrary to the national results,’’ the report says.
‘‘We will be watching smoking rates carefully to ascertain whether the results are a true change in trend and to understand what impact earthquake stressors have had on the smoking rates.’’
In the five-year period after the earthquakes, between 2011-12 and 2016-17, the percentage of the national population smoking fell from 18 per cent to about 16 per cent. It dropped again in 2017-18 to about 15 per cent.
In contrast, the Canterbury rate declined from about 16 per cent to 13 per cent between 2011-12 and 2014-15, but increased over the following two years to nearly 17 per cent in 2016-17, overtaking the national smoking rate. Regional data for 2017-18 is yet to be released.
A current smoker is defined as someone aged 15 and over who smokes at least once a month and has smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime.
The construction industry, smokers
‘‘It’s likely to be migrants.’’ Medical officer of health Alistair Humphrey
moving to Christchurch from other parts of New Zealand and overseas, and earthquake-related stressors have all been cited as potential reasons for the apparent Canterbury increase.
Canterbury medical officer of health Dr Alistair Humphrey said the survey, of more than 13,000 adults each year, was not designed to measure regional changes, but he would not be surprised if the Canterbury smoking rate had increased. The 2018 census results would shed more light on smoking trends, he said.
‘‘The existing population I’m sure are smoking less,’’ Humphrey said. ‘‘It’s likely to be migrants who are changing it.
‘‘The only slight caveat to that is we do know that mental health problems in Canterbury have grown since the quakes, and that people with mental health problems tend to smoke more.’’
That was a view one Christchurch tradesman, who did not want to be named, shared. He had a family member who worked in mental health and said patients ‘‘use cigarettes like their medicine’’.
As for he and two of his colleagues, smoking had been a part of their lives since their teenage years, or earlier.
‘‘I’ve been smoking since I was 12,’’ said Kate Shand, as she and her workmates smoked outside a construction site during lunch. Shand smoked 50 grams of tobacco – which costs about $90 – every eight or nine days.
‘‘In a way, apart from the fact that the poor old dairies are getting slammed [by robberies], I think it’s a good thing. To stop young people starting. I wish I never started,’’ she said.
Her colleague, Darin, said he smoked more than 50g in a week. He had been smoking for about 30 years. ‘‘I think you can be stubborn at my age,’’ he said. The trio believed if smoking numbers were up in Christchurch, it was ‘‘because we’re all tradies’’.
Humphrey said Christchurch had a thriving construction industry, which was notorious for smoking.
Migrants from countries or ethnic groups with higher smoking rates, such as the Philippines, Ma¯ ori (33 per cent according to the New Zealand Health Survey) and Pasifika (23 per cent), could also be a factor, he said.
‘‘Smoking is clearly an issue that migrants bring with them and we should be providing supportive
services for people [who move to Canterbury] from elsewhere in the country . . . and also from other parts of the world.’’
Studies conducted after the earthquakes showed large numbers of former smokers in the region had relapsed and some existing smokers had boosted consumption.
The CDHB provided a range of stop-smoking initiatives, Humphrey said, but he believed it was inadequately funded for its migrant population because of the lag between censuses.
A ministry spokesman said when new data from the latest census was available, it would be included in the funding formula.
The health survey was a national survey with relatively small regional samples, he said, adding statistically small changes could be explained as much by chance as any real difference.
There have been tobacco excise tax hikes since the latest regional health survey figures. The latest rise, brought in at the start of this year, bumped up the price of a 25-pack of cigarettes to nearly $40.
Cancer Society spokesman Martin Witt was skeptical of any upwards trend.
‘‘We know that the sale of tobacco is falling, we know that youth uptake has never been smaller – we’re increasingly moving to a smokefree generation now.
‘‘I would not take those figures to signify that Canterbury in the long run is going to do anything other than follow the general decline.’’
Figures cited in the CDHB annual report said 14 per cent of year 10 students had smoked.
Witt said price increases had been effective, but should be seen as one of several initiatives necessary to achieve the smokefree 2025 goal set under the previous government.