Efforts to reduce smoking in Canberra may be leaving women behind as new health data shows they are more likely than men to smoke in almost all ACT suburbs.
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The figures from the latest Australia Health Tracker data also reveal which parts of Canberra have the most smokers and risky drinkers, as well as which suburbs have more overweight people and which cancers are more prevalent in different areas.
Smoking rates for Canberra women are close to the national average of 13.3 per cent, at 12.8 per cent, while men living in the territory have a much lower smoking rate (12.6 per cent) than those in other parts of the country (18.9 per cent).
Cancer Council ACT chief executive Sandra Turner said the findings probably reflected the success of anti-smoking programs among Canberra men.
"We need more of what works in both men and women, such as hard-hitting mass media advertising campaigns to build on the benefits we are already seeing from the successive increases in tobacco excise and the benefits of plain packaging," she said.
"Two out of three smokers will die prematurely just because they smoked – that's the most critical statistic. We need to get the smoking rates in men and women down a lot further."
The data also shows Tuggeranong has some of the highest smoking rates in the ACT.
South Tuggeranong recorded a 19.2 per cent smoking rate, above the 16.1 per cent national average, while the area including Greenway, Oxley and Wanniassa (15.9 per cent) also had higher levels than the rest of the ACT (13.1 per cent).
Breast cancer is by far the largest cause of death for Canberra among cancers monitored in the health data.
While lung cancer deaths are the most common for the rest of the country, the rate of people who died from breast cancer was higher in the ACT (24.3 per cent) although lower than the national average.
The ACT also has lower rates of death from lung and colon cancer than the national average, the data shows.
Risky drinking levels were highest for the inner south (20.3 per cent), and the area including Flynn, Fraser, Melba and Spence (18.5 per cent), sitting well above the 14.9 per cent ACT average.
However Canberra's overall levels of smoking and risky drinking were below the national averages.
Health results in the ACT overall were relatively good, but there were also inequities between population groups, Ms Turner said.
Overweight and obesity levels were higher in Tuggeranong, and parts of Belconnen.
Capital Health Network chief executive Gaylene Coulton said despite higher rates of overweight and obesity in these areas, overall the ACT was addressing the issues.
"Often these factors are not specific to a certain area but the higher density of population in that area can make the situation seem out of proportion," she said.
"While there is some evidence to indicate that socio-economic status can play a role in higher rates of overweight and obesity, there are pockets of disadvantage throughout both Tuggeranong and Belconnen which may play a role in higher rates in these areas.
"In some parts of Belconnen and Tuggeranong there is poor access to transport, and more families with full time working parents."
West Belconnen and the area including Dunlop, Gooromon and Macgregor had more people who took no or low exercise.
Correction: An earlier version of this article contained incorrect figures on smoking rates in the ACT due to a data error. These have been updated. The incorrect figures did not affect the overall comparisons in the article.
