Summer is over, and the ‘flu season’ is just around the corner. Seasonal influenza causes mild to severe respiratory illness and can lead to respiratory complications such as pneumonia.
In Australia, each year seasonal influenza results in an estimated:
- 3,500 deaths
- 300,000 general practitioner consultations
- 18,000 hospitalisations.
Smoking is a substantial risk factor for many acute respiratory infections and can increase the incidence, duration and/or severity of respiratory infections caused by influenza.
People who smoke are five times more likely to develop influenza and are at increased risk of bacterial pneumonia compared with those who do not smoke. Hospitalisation and admission to Intensive Care Units (ICU) for influenza is more likely for people who smoke.
Encourage your patients who smoke to get their flu vaccination and encourage them to quit. Health professionals can use the Ask, Advise, Help (AAH) model which is a way of structuring a conversation about smoking that is fast, simple and effective, and connects patients to best practice smoking cessation care.
Quitline supports people who smoke to quit. Refer your patients at quitcentre.org.au/referral-form.