Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Jul 1988
Smokeless tobacco use among ninth graders in a north-central metropolitan population: cross-sectional and prospective associations with age, gender, race, family structure, and other drug use.
Smokeless tobacco use was analyzed in relation to demographic factors and to past and current use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana in 4,249 ninth graders in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Smokeless tobacco use was found to be more common among males, particularly whites; among whites relative to blacks; among adolescents from one-parent households; and among those who reported current or prior use of cigarettes, alcohol, or marijuana. Smokeless tobacco use was also very common among the Native Americans and Hispanics sampled. The results suggest that smokeless tobacco may be joining the list of common recreational drugs that have potential for both short and long-term danger to the adolescent user.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 1988
A statewide approach to adolescent tobacco-use prevention: the Minnesota-Wisconsin Adolescent Tobacco-Use Research Project.
Adolescent smoking rates remain high and the use of smokeless tobacco is increasing, especially among males. Despite this continuing public health problem and the recent development of more effective prevention programs, few adolescents now participate in such programs at school. ⋯ The Minnesota-Wisconsin Adolescent Tobacco-Use Research Project has implemented an evaluation design that will provide data on the efficacy of this statewide approach to the prevention of tobacco use among adolescents. This article describes the current state of tobacco-use prevention programming in Minnesota schools, current efforts to improve on that record, and the research design set up to evaluate these strategies.
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Preventive medicine · Jul 1988
Development of a validation test for self-reported abstinence from smokeless tobacco products: preliminary results.
Using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, 11 heavy elements at concentrations that are easily detectable have been identified in smokeless tobacco products. These concentrations were found to increase in cheek epithelium samples of the user after exposure to smokeless tobacco. ⋯ This absence of strontium could validate a self-report of abstinence from smokeless tobacco. Finally, the X-ray spectrum of heavy metal content of cheek epithelium from smokeless tobacco users could itself provide a visual stimulus to further motivate the user to terminate the use of smokeless tobacco products.