How the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted cigarette smoking rates in the Bay

The number of people who smoke cigarettes in the Bay of Plenty is still decreasing but a doctor says the Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a handbrake.

It comes after the revelation more than a quarter of the 500,000 Kiwis who smoke said their cigarette intake increased during alert level 4 last year.

Tauranga's Fifth Avenue Family Practice had 1.2 per cent of the practice's entire clientele give up smoking in the year to March 2020, with 727 then-current smokers.

In the 12 months since, the total number of smokers has dropped 719, a reduction of 0.3 per cent.

Additionally, the total population of smokers recognised by the Western Bay of Plenty Primary Health Organisation had dropped in the past year.

At the end of February 2020, the number of smokers compared to the entire population was 13.4 per cent and, by February this year, it was 12.6 per cent.

Fifth Avenue Family Practice general practitioner Dr Luke Bradford. Photo / George Novak

Fifth Avenue's Dr Luke Bradford said while the rate had slowed, the number of people giving up the habit was still good news.

"I think if you were going to draw conclusions from Covid-19, you might say that the rate of quitting has decreased but the total number is still decreasing," he said.

"In the last year, going from 13.4 per cent of people who identify as smokers, a year ago, down to 12.6 per cent this year, I think that's really good."

Elsewhere, around 26,000 people reached out to Quitline for help in the year ending June 30, 2020, and 28 per cent of them were smoke-free after four weeks.

Hāpainga is a nationwide face-to-face stop smoking service. In the 2020 calendar year, there were 31,759 smokers referred to the service, with 1250 of these living in the Bay of Plenty, a spokesperson for the Bay of Plenty DHB said.

A psychiatrist for the National Telehealth Service, including Quitline, Dr Lyndy Matthews, said friends and family play important roles in getting people to stop smoking.

However, she said stigmatising them can enhance or reinstate cigarette use so it was best to take a soft approach.

"[Smokers] are highly sensitive to being 'judged' ... Most smokers already feel powerful amounts of whakamā, or shame, each time they light a cigarette," she said.

"Not only does this feed into issues of self-worth, [but] it can stop smokers from reaching out for help.

"If someone tells you they want to quit, it's good to celebrate this milestone with them."

There has been a slowing down in the number of people giving up smoking. Photo / Martin Sykes

When people smoked, they were putting their entire body at risk, Bradford said, as it can lead to a range of cancers from bladder to mouth and breast to throat.

He thought the price of cigarettes was a massive reason why people were giving up smoking, as well as the availability of vaping.

"The message is getting through, it's becoming a lot less acceptable in society," he said. "I think the health message the practices are pushing through is helping.

"I think it would be naive to think it wasn't driven by tax and vaping."

Quitline service delivery manager Jordan Taiaroa said people being clear about the reason they are quitting can help them stay motivated.

"Some people find it useful to write a list and pin it up somewhere you can see or keep it with you," Taiaroa said.

"For many people, the main reasons to quit are for their health and for the health of their family and to save money.

"For others, it's about being able to join in more easily to social occasions and also to show their tamariki (children) that a smoke-free future is possible"

After an initial decrease in regular smokers in the Bay of Plenty Regional Council area after the 2006 census, the number increased between 2013 and 2018.

Census data shows there was a decrease of 9669 regular smokers between 2006 and 2013, however, over the next five years the number increased by 4068.