Faculty at the University of Louisville overestimate the health risks of smokeless tobacco, with most placing it at the same risk level as cigarettes, according to a study in Drug and Alcohol Review (March 2010, Vol. 29:2, pp. 121-130).
Survey results from nearly 600 faculty members at the university's Belknap and the Health Sciences Center campuses showed that 97% of respondents considered cigarettes as high risk for several health domains: general health, heart attack/stroke, all cancer, and oral cancer. The majority of survey respondents also perceived smokeless tobacco as high risk, with 80% believing it has equal or higher risk than smoking for oral cancer.
Research conducted in Sweden and the U.S. demonstrates that smokeless tobacco use carries far fewer health risks than smoking, even for oral cancer, the university noted. For example, a 2009 study published in BMC Medicine found that the effect of smokeless tobacco on risk of cancer, if it exists at all, is "quantitatively very much smaller than the known effects of smoking."
The University of Louisville study was conducted in collaboration with the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Kent School of Social Work, and Brown Cancer Center. Nicholas Peiper, a doctoral student in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, led the study.
The research findings demonstrate the need for better education about the risks of tobacco use and for communication of accurate information by health professionals and organizations, Peiper said. Research cited in the study points out medical, nursing, and dental school graduates may have inadequate training to provide effective tobacco education and intervention, he added.
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