Structure of Tobacco and Nicotine Product Use among Adults in the Russian Federation: Representative Surveys, 2019–2024

Introduction: Tobacco and nicotine use is a risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, malignant neoplasms, and a severe course of infectious diseases. This factor, however, is manageable and can be modified through prevention programs allowing for trends and specifics of the use of tobacco and nicotine products.

Objective: To analyze patterns of tobacco and nicotine product use among the adult population of the Russian Federation in 2019–2024.

Materials and Methods: The analysis was performed using microdata from the Sample Health Survey, a representative national survey of adults conducted in 2019–2024. We calculated the proportions of tobacco/nicotine consumers using smoking and smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, vapes, and heated tobacco products, as well as the intensity of their use in the entire adult population, men, women, and different age groups. Dynamic changes were assessed by identifying trends in time series of indicators using a linear approximation method and calculating the statistical significance of the model coefficients.

Results: In 2019–2024, the prevalence of tobacco/nicotine use among the adult population decreased from 39.9 % to 36.5 %. In men, it went down from to 24.0 % to 22.3 %, while in women it remained at the level of 10 %. The rate of decrease in smoking tobacco use among men (15.4 %) was lower than that in women (23.2 %), while the increase in nicotine product use among women was thrice as high as among men. The rise in nicotine product use was considerable in adults under 40 and almost null in those aged 60 years and over.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrate a sustainable decrease in tobacco and nicotine product use over the study period; yet, young people and women remain high-risk groups. 

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