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To examine e-cigarette use by adults who smoke or have recently quit, and demographic characteristics associated with their use; to assess reasons for using e-cigarettes.The Cancer Institute NSW Tobacco Tracking Survey (CITTS) is an ongoing, serial, cross-sectional telephone survey study (40 interviews each week). This report is based on interviews during 4 January 2016 - 31 December 2020.Randomly selected New South Wales adults who are current smokers (smoked cigarettes, pipes, or other tobacco products daily, weekly, or less often) or recent quitters (smoked tobacco products in the past twelve months but who no longer smoked).E-cigarette use by age group; reasons for using e-cigarettes.CITTS callers rang 1 494 233 randomly selected numbers; in 203 203 answered calls (13.6%), 11 125 people were eligible for the survey (5.5% of answered calls), of whom 10 004 completed the survey interview, including the question about whether they used e-cigarettes (89.9%). Overall e-cigarette use increased from 6.6% of respondents in 2016 to 13.0% in 2020 (adjusted odds ratio, 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.47-2.36). The proportion of respondents aged 18-24 years who reported e-cigarette use increased from 18.4% (95% CI, 12.9-23.9%) in 2018 to 27.2% (95% CI, 20.5-33.9%) in 2020, a larger proportion than for any other age group. The leading reasons offered for e-cigarette use were "to help me quit smoking" (33%; 95% CI, 30-37%) and "to cut down on the number of cigarettes I smoke" (25%; 95% CI, 22-28%).The increase between 2016 and 2020 in the proportions of young adults who smoke or have recently quit who use e-cigarettes undermines claims that these products are designed for older smokers who have struggled to quit using other methods.

To investigate New South Wales adults' perceived adequacy of their fruit and vegetable consumption and to identify the barriers to consumption.An online cross-sectional survey of a sample of adults in New South Wales (n = 1603) in February 2019 measured self-reported fruit and vegetable intakes, perception of consumption adequacy and barriers to consumption. Proportions of participants whose reported consumption met the daily recommended serves of fruit and vegetables per day were calculated. Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to explore differences between demographic characteristics and meeting fruit and vegetable recommendations. For those not meeting recommendations, Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used to explore perceived adequacy of intake as a potential barrier to consumption.The sample included 52.7% women, 40.0% aged under 40 years and 28.6% over 59 years, 68.2% lived in a major city, and 32.6% were university educated. Overall, 64.8% of participants reported consuming adequate fruit and 12.4% reported consuming adequate vegetables. Of those consuming less than the guidelines, 21.3% perceived that they were eating enough fruit and 53.7% perceived they were eating enough vegetables. The most common barriers to eating more fruit were preference for other foods (29.6%), fruit spoiling too quickly (28.3%), and habit (27.0%). The most common barriers to eating more vegetables were the perception that they eat enough (26.8%), preference for other foods (21.9%), and habit (19.7%).Greater efforts are needed to support the public to eat adequate fruit and vegetables, consistent with dietary guidelines. Public education campaigns specifically targeting increasing vegetable consumption are required to address knowledge gaps, given a large proportion of our study population consumed inadequate levels of vegetables yet perceived their intake to be adequate.

Issue addressed: To describe self-reported bowel cancer screening participation, beliefs and attitudes in a sample of New South Wales (NSW) adults, and to identify beliefs and demographic factors associated with self-reported bowel cancer screening participation. Methods: This study used data from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership Module 2, a representative population-based telephone survey. Self-reported participation in and beliefs about bowel cancer screening were measured using the Awareness and Beliefs about Cancer survey of people aged 50 years and over living in NSW, Australia (n = 2001). Logistic regression modelling was used to identify explanatory variables associated with bowel cancer screening participation. Results: Half of all women (54.1%, 95% CI: 50.8-57.4%) and two-thirds of men (65.7%, 95% CI: 61.5-69.9%) reported screening for bowel cancer within the previous 5 years. Believing that screening was only necessary when experiencing symptoms was more likely to be endorsed by people aged 65 years and over (25.5%, 95% CI: 22.2-28.7%) rather than younger (50-64 years; 16.7%, 95% CI: 13.8-19.7%), non-English-speaking migrants (35.4%, 95% CI: 26.7-44.1%) versus others (18.6%, 95% CI: 16.4-20.7%), and people in metropolitan (23.3%, 95% CI: 20.4-26.1%) versus non-metropolitan areas (16.4%, 95% CI: 12.8-20%). People who disagreed that screening was only necessary when experiencing symptoms were four times more likely to report screening participation (OR 3.96, 95% CI: 3.11-5.03). Conclusions: Community education about bowel cancer screening is needed to correct misperceptions regarding screening in the absence of symptoms. Tailored strategies for older, migrant and urban communities may be beneficial. So what? Education strategies that promote the need for screening in the absence of symptoms and correct misconceptions about bowel cancer screening amongst subgroups of the NSW population may improve screening rates and decrease the burden of bowel cancer in NSW.