The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Smokeless tobacco products have been available in the tobacco market for centuries, but their popularity has changed over time. In Europe, Sweden is only EU country allowing snuff use. The role of snuff in reducing smoking is ambivalent. Moreover, it is unclear, how many new tobacco users it has attracted. This study will look at snuff use and users in Sweden during the last 20 years to see the impact of snuff on the use of tobacco.

Current situation: The use of oral smokeless tobacco, snuff, in Sweden has increased steadily from 1980xs. Among men 22 % use snuff daily, in contrast to 3 % of women. With age the consumption of snuff decreases and the highest proportion of snuff user's is in age group 18-29 year old. Strongest increase of snuff has occurred among highest educational group and snuff use is linked with occasional smoking. Use of multiple tobacco products is common among snuff users as 12% smoke daily and 24% occasionally.

Methods: Statistics Sweden annual data from the Survey of living conditions, 5000-6000 respondents per year.

Results: Main outcome measures: This study will look at questions like a) what is the contribution of snuff to low rates of smoking among men? b) What is a role of snuff use in smoking cessation? c) What is the distribution in socio-economic groups in smoking and snuff? d) How many switch in real life to snuff from cigarettes? e) How many of tobacco users have started on snuff?