Smoking''s Damage to Maori Sounds Warning for the World

Source from:  New Zealand Doctor Online 08/02/2013

A review of how smoking affects Maori paints a tragic picture and raises a grim spectre for the developing world's future, Auckland researchers say.

A disturbingly long list of health consequences for smokers and families has been identified by a review team led by Marewa Glover, a senior research fellow and director of the centre for tobacco control research at Auckland University.

Only a few peoples worldwide, other than Maori, have half of their mothers smoking, Dr Glover and colleagues write in the New Zealand Medical Journal (online 2 August).

Look at what tobacco industry has done

They warn the developing world faces similar consequences "if they do not look at what the tobacco industry has achieved with Maori".

"We are in the unique position, if we could but gain support to design and test interventions that reduce Maori maternal smoking, to inform the global tobacco control programme hopefully before other countries begin to experience the same level of smoking-related harm."

A big contributor to poorer outcomes

It is highly likely that smoking contributes substantially to the poorer health outcomes for Maori than non-Maori, the reviewers conclude.

Government campaigns and cessation programmes have not been sufficient, and Maori women's smoking prevalence has not significantly declined in the past six years.

"We urgently need innovative interventions specifically designed for Maori, that resonate with Maori, and that will reach Maori," the authors state.

CVD and cancer risks ramped up

Smoking is a known cause of cardiovascular disease, where Maori deaths and hospitalisations are greater.

The article points out one of the largest differences between Maori and non-Maori age-standardised mortality rates is for hypertensive disease (17.3 per 100,000 compared with 3.7).

Key smoking-related cancers also affect Maori far more (three times higher registration for lung, liver and stomach cancer, for example).

Smoking prevalence for Maori while pregnant remains extraordinarily high, the reviewers say. Enditem