Although smoking shows a strong negative association with religiousness, no studies have appeared of use of smokeless tobacco (ST) and religiousness. To assess an association of use of ST and religiousness, data from 9,374 men aged 17 years and over with complete data on self-reported frequency of attendance at religious services and use of smokeless tobacco were analyzed. Among men aged 17-29 years, 4.9% of frequent attenders (>or=24 times/y) and 9.4% of others (<24 times/y) were current users of ST (p=0.002). After adjusting for multiple confounders by logistic regression, infrequent attenders were twice as likely as frequent attenders to be ST users: odds ratio 2.09, 95% confidence limits 1.12-3.92, p=0.02. This negative association suggests a protective effect of early-life religiousness on ST use, which might be taken into account in planning ST prevention efforts.
Keywords: Smokeless tobacco; religion; smoking; spirituality.