Background: Between 1996 and 2005, there was a 61% decrease in the prevalence of weekly smoking among 12-15-year old secondary students. This study examined whether smoking prevalence reduced among students of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds.

Method: Triennial surveys of around 15000 students from randomly selected secondary schools throughout Australia between 1996 and 2005. Students were selected at random from school rolls, completed surveys anonymously and self-identified as being Indigenous or not. Key outcome variables were: prevalence of: ever-smoking; smoking on any of previous 7 days; smoking on 3 or more days of previous 7.

Results: At each survey, 3-4% of students identified as being Indigenous. While at each survey, smoking was significantly more common among Indigenous than non-Indigenous students, the proportion smoking declined significantly between 1996 and 2005 among both Indigenous (37% decline) and non-Indigenous (61% decline) students, although at a different rate (interaction p<.01). Among non-Indigenous students, prevalence decreased steadily between 1996 and 2005, including between 2002 and 2005. Among Indigenous students, most of the decrease occurred between 1999 and 2002, with only a trend toward a decline at best between 2002 and 2005.

Conclusions: While smoking prevalence decreased among both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, most change among Indigenous students happened between 1999 and 2002.

Implications: Reductions in Indigenous students' tobacco use coincided with a period of increased tobacco control activity including tobacco control advertising and cigarette price increases, suggesting that these activities may positively influence the smoking behaviours of Indigenous youth in school.

Presentation not available