Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, PO Box 41096, Casuarina NT 0811, Darwin, Australia.
Tob Control. 2011 Jul;20(4):291-5. doi: 10.1136/tc.2010.042473. Epub 2011 May 5.
Effective monitoring of trends in tobacco use is an essential element of tobacco control policy. Monitoring tobacco consumption using tobacco wholesale data has advantages over other methods of surveillance. In the present work, a research project that monitored tobacco consumption in 25 remote Aboriginal communities and its translation to a policy to implement this monitoring routinely in the entire Northern Territory of Australia is described.
Tobacco consumption and trends were estimated using wholesale (or occasionally sales) data from all retail outlets in 25 remote Aboriginal communities. Self-reported consumption was estimated from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey in 2008. Local consumption results were fed back in posters to local organisations and health staff.
Estimates of consumption from wholesale data and self-report were similar (6.8 and 6.7 cigarettes/day/person aged 15 and over). Consumption was higher in the tropical Top End than in arid Central Australia, and 24% of tobacco was consumed as loose tobacco. The overall trend in monthly consumption was not significantly different from 0. Local communities could be ranked by their local trends in monthly consumption.
Monitoring tobacco consumption using wholesale tobacco data is a practical and unobtrusive surveillance method that is being introduced as a new condition of tobacco retail licenses in the Northern Territory of Australia. It overcomes some problems with consumption estimates from routine surveys, enables rapid feedback and use of results and is particularly well suited for hard-to-reach discrete populations, such as remote Aboriginal communities in Australia. It has already been used to evaluate the impact of local tobacco control activities.
有效监测烟草使用趋势是烟草控制政策的一个重要组成部分。使用烟草批发数据监测烟草消费比其他监测方法具有优势。在本研究中，描述了一个监测 25 个偏远的原住民社区烟草消费情况的研究项目，以及将这一监测工作常规化推广到澳大利亚北部地区的政策。
使用 25 个偏远原住民社区所有零售点的批发（或偶尔的销售）数据来估计烟草消费和趋势。2008 年的全国原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民社会调查（National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey）估计了自我报告的消费情况。地方消费结果以海报形式反馈给当地组织和卫生工作人员。
批发数据和自我报告的消费估计值相似（15 岁及以上人群每天 6.8 支和 6.7 支香烟）。在热带的北端，消费高于干旱的中部澳大利亚，24%的烟草是散装烟草。每月消费的总体趋势与 0 没有显著差异。当地社区可以根据每月消费的本地趋势进行排名。
使用烟草批发数据监测烟草消费是一种实用且不引人注目的监测方法，目前正在澳大利亚北部地区作为烟草零售许可证的新条件引入。它克服了常规调查中消费估计的一些问题，能够快速反馈和利用结果，特别适合难以到达的离散人群，如澳大利亚的偏远原住民社区。它已经被用于评估当地烟草控制活动的影响。
