Abstract
Background: Nicotine receptors are present in many organs including the lungs. It is therefore plausible that nicotine exposure (without cigarette smoke) has a negative impact on lung health.
Aim: To assess the association between use of nasal and oral moist tobacco (snus) and asthma symptoms.
Methods: We used data collected 2013-15 on lung health and tobacco habits from 7826 adult participants (mean age: 30.4 yrs; 42% men) from the RHINESSA study with populations from Northern Europe. Logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, occupational status, parental smoking during childhood, and clustered by centre were used to assess association between use of snus (with or without cigarette smoking) and having 3 or more of the following symptoms: Wheezing, breathless when wheezing, wheezing when not having a cold, woken by tightness in chest, woken by shortness of breath, night cough, asthma attack, and current asthma medication.
Results: Current use of snus was most common in Norway (21%) and Sweden (17%), followed by Iceland (included oral and nasal tobacco: 7%), Estonia (4%) and Denmark (1%). In Norway and Sweden 40% of the snus users were women. The overall prevalence of ever-smoking was 31% (11% current smokers). The risk of ≥3 asthma symptoms was similar for the current smokers aOR: 1.54 (95% CI: 1.26, 1.87) and snus users aOR: 1.53 (95% CI: 1.26, 1.87), but highest for combined use of current snus and cigarette smoking aOR: 2.55 (95% CI: 1.72, 3.76) as compared to those never having used snus nor smoked (59%).
Conclusion: The use of snus is frequent in the Nordic countries and being a current snus-user as well combined use of snus and cigarette smoking is associated with having multiple asthma symptoms.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016
