Graph South Eastern Australia One of the most recent studies was carried out in rural Victoria which compared Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people living in two separate towns. This compared with a life expectancy of 73 and 79 years for non-Aboriginal men and women respectively. In these studies, cigarettes were the favoured form of tobacco consumption. For women, there was no difference in rates between the two groups. In the Orana and Far West study, no significant difference in smoking prevalence was found between those who were employed and those who were unemployed.
Smoking is a major preventable risk factor for both.