Stroke, Heart Attack Risk Tied to Smokeless-Tobacco Use

More than 5 percent of all strokes and heart attacks in Sweden are associated with smokeless-tobacco use, according to a research review that confirmed a small but firm association between use of such products and disease.

HealthDay News reported Aug. 20 that the review of 11 previously published studies found that smokeless tobacco was linked to 5.6 percent of fatal heart attacks in Sweden and 0.5 percent of heart attacks in the U.S. In Sweden, 5.4 percent of stroke deaths were associated with smokeless-tobacco use, along with 1.7 percent of deadly strokes in the U.S.

The study by Paolo Boffetta of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and colleagues was published online in the British Medical Journal.