‘Don’t give up: Heart Foundation encourages smokers to keep trying to quit

It comes as new research shows tobacco smoke kills more people in Australia than previously thought

The Heart Foundation is urging Australia’s 1.8 million smokers not to give up trying to quit.

The supportive call comes as detailed new research by the Australian National University (ANU) shows more people in Australia die from smoking than previously thought.

The ANU study, published in BMC Medicine, followed 178,000 people over time and provides the first detailed evidence to date on smoking and cause of death in Australia, finding that smoking increases the risk of dying from 23 common causes including heart disease.

Senior author for the research, Professor Emily Banks (whose previous work has been funded by the Heart Foundation) said it is now estimated that 24,000 people in Australia or 66 people per day lose their life to the addictive habit, up from previous projections of 20,500 per year.

“This is bad news, of course, but it’s also good news that we have this knowledge. For a long time, tobacco companies have denied the harm smoking causes,” Prof Banks said.

Even ‘light smoking’ is terribly bad for heart health

Prof Banks said people often underestimated the impact of smoking, including so-called ‘light smoking’ only a few cigarettes each day.

“The chances are that if you smoke, even a little, you will die prematurely or suffer chronic disease because of it,” Prof Banks said.

Keep trying – before it’s too late

Melbourne man Chris Harrison, 55, considers himself lucky to be alive after an unhealthy lifestyle including heavy smoking culminated in a heart attack in 2022.

Remarkably, he survived the heart attack and went on to spend nine weeks in hospital recovering from quadruple bypass surgery.

“There’s no lead up to these things; sometimes it’s a diagnosis or it’s fatal,” Mr Harrison said.

“It’s a big eye-opener and I haven’t wanted a cigarette since the heart attack. I haven’t had a craving because I know where it can end up. Being in hospital for so long with tubes coming out of my chest; it was confronting and much more overpowering than wanting to have another cigarette.”Mr Harrison urged others to keep trying to quit, even if they were light smokers, or not to be tempted to try a cigarette at all.

“You don’t miss what you don’t know. There’s no benefit to it, it doesn’t make you happy or give you money, just don’t do it,” he said.

“I would never have thought it would take a heart attack to make me quit smoking, but it did.”

Getting help quitting

Heart Foundation CEO, David Lloyd, said it was normal for people to need to try quitting many times.

“Many people slip up after they quit and start smoking again,” Mr Lloyd said.

“It’s important not see this as a failure. Instead, think about what made you smoke again. Ask yourself: how can you deal with this situation next time?

“You will become better at quitting each time you try.”

If you are a smoker and are ready to quit, thinking about quitting, or want to help someone else to quit, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about giving up smoking or call the Quitline on 13 7848 or visit the Quit website.