New data will help community health providers

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The latest figures from the Regional Longitudinal Health Survey show that smoking rates among First Nations people in Canada are dropping, but we'll have to wait until the end of 2005 for researchers to tell us why.

Statistics from the 2002-03 survey put the rate of smoking among First Nations people age 20 and over at 57.6 per cent, down 4.4 per cent from survey figures for 1997 and 1991 when the rate was at 62 per cent.

Smokers make up only 26 per cent of the general Canadian population, but Jane Grey, national co-ordinator of the survey is encouraged by the decreased rate of Aboriginal smoking.

"To me that is good news. Something is working."

The statistics are from the preliminary results of the adult portion of the survey, released in September to coincide with the 2004 First Ministers' Meeting on Health. Preliminary survey results from the health survey portions dealing with children and adolescents are expected to be released in the late spring or early summer, with the detailed survey results expected in late 2005.

Those detailed results will contain a lot more than numbers, Grey explained. The section on smoking, for instance, will include information on why people who stopped smoking decided to quit.

"It might give us a good indication of what helped the smoking rates go down," she said.

"We'll be able to report among adolescents, when did they begin smoking? ... In the results from 1997, children were smoking. The age of 16 seemed to be the critical age when individuals started smoking. So with the new results, we're going to be able to report on whether that's changed or not."

The children's portion of the survey will report on smoking rates during pregnancy, she added.

These types of detailed survey results will provide valuable information for people working to get smoking rates down within their own communities by showing them what types of programs or approaches have been successful in getting people to quit.

The final survey will provide information on a lot more than smoking, however. The questionnaires used for the survey included a range of questions dealing with health, wellness, and more. A total of 22,603 surveys were completed by First Nation people from across the country for the latest sampling, answering questions on language use, education, employment, income, housing, water quality and services available in the home. Participants were also asked questions about physical injuries, diabetes, physical activity, nutrition, dental care, use of and access to health services, and use of traditional medicines and healers.

Other questions dealt with alcohol and drugs, HIV, sexuality, pregnancy, mental health, community wellness, culture, spirituality and religion, and the impacts of residential schools.