Smokeless tobacco use among American Indian women--southeastern North Carolina, 1991.

Rates of smokeless tobacco use among U.S. adults are highest for young males, American Indians/Alaskan Natives, persons residing in the South or rural areas of the country, and those of low socioeconomic status (1). In addition, the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use has been reported to be high in tobacco-producing regions, including rural North Carolina and Kentucky (2,3). In southeastern North Carolina, reports from physicians and dentists suggested a high prevalence of smokeless tobacco use in the local American Indian population, the Lumbee--particularly among women and children. In response to these reports, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University analyzed data from a National Cancer Institute-sponsored cervical cancer prevention program to estimate the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use during 1991 among Lumbee women aged > or = 18 years residing in Robeson County, North Carolina (1990 population: 105,179).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)