Tobacco use among Kola Sámi, the indigenous people of the Murmansk region, Russia: A cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Russia is among the top ten nations in terms of smoking prevalence. Little is known about smoking rates among Indigenous Peoples in Russia. Our aim was to assess the prevalence of tobacco and nicotine product use among Kola peninsula Sámi. An exploratory cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine tobacco or nicotine product use among 505 Sámi people (about 30% of the whole Sámi population of Russia). Over 60% of participants had tried tobacco or nicotine products. Median age of first use was 15 years, with cigarettes being the most frequent first product tried and the most common type of product used currently. About a third of participants used a tobacco or nicotine product at least occasionally; 25% (predominantly males) smoked at least occasionally with 23.8% smoking daily. Of participants who smoked, 52.5% scored medium and 44.2% scored high on the Heaviness of Smoking Index. Seventeen percent of participants smoked formerly but not currently. Like some other Indigenous Peoples, Kola Sámi in Russia have a higher smoking prevalence than the average among the Russian population. Interest in a smoking cessation mobile app designed for the Sámi population suggests that such an intervention could help to reduce this inequity.

KEYWORDS:

• Sámi
• tobacco
• smoking
• cessation
• indigenous

Acknowledgements

We thank the Public Organization of the Murmansk Region “Association of the Kola Sámi” for help in organising the study and the participants for their time and generosity in contributing to this research. We also acknowledge Vladlen Tarkhanov and Vladimir Almazov for their significant support in organising the study and data collection, and Michael Morris for early review comments.

Disclosure statement

This study was funded as part of the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking’s broader programme of research that was funded with a grant from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, Inc. (“FSFW”), a US non-profit 501(c)(3) private foundation. This study is, under the terms of the grant agreement with FSFW, editorially independent of FSFW. The contents, selection and presentation of facts, as well as any opinions expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the authors and under no circumstances should they be regarded as reflecting the positions of FSFW. Neither the authors, nor the Centre of Research Excellence: Indigenous Sovereignty & Smoking, have any commercial interests in vaping, snus, oral nicotine or tobacco products. MG has, over 10 years ago, received fees from pharmaceutical companies for consultancy about cessation medicines.

Data availability statement

The data underlying this article cannot be shared publicly due to the ethical responsibility to preserve the privacy of individuals that participated in the study. Individual participants could be identified if the data was made public due to the small number of Kola peninsula Sámi people and that about a third participated in the survey.

Author contributions

Marewa Glover conceived of the study, secured funding for this project, developed the study design and edited the paper. Alexander Merkin, Sofya Akinfieva and Artem Nikolaev developed the study design, conducted literature search, conducted statistical analyses and drafted the paper. Alexander Merkin, Alexander Komarov and Igor Nikiforov supervised data collection and edited the manuscript. Elena Rocheva conducted data collection and edited the manuscript. All authors were involved in the editing of the paper and approved the final draft.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/22423982.2022.2124630

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World [FSFW COE1-009].