Introduction:
In Norway snus is now the most frequently used tobacco product. Despite being considerably less harmful than cigarettes, snus use may be harmful, and there are concerns for snus use among adolescents, and maintained nicotine addiction among former smokers who use snus. Also, lack of willingness to quit nicotine products altogether weakens the push for tobacco “endgame”. Little is known about the diffusion of quit interest and quit plans among snus users.

Objective:
Identify quit interest among current Norwegian snus users by assessing the extent of previous quit attempts and future quit plans.

Material and Methods:
Data was collected by the Norwegian Directorate of Health as part of the evaluation of the Stoptober campaign. Three time points (two in 2018, one in 2019) were pooled for the present analysis. N= 820 snus users, 710 (87%) of whom were daily users, and 129 (16%) were also smokers. Descriptive statistics was used to identify the extent of snus cessation behaviour. Adjusted logistic regression was applied to identify associations between background variables, tobacco use status, and interest in quitting snus.

Results:
58% had previously attempted to quit snus, while 53% expressed current plans to quit. 27% had never attempted to quit and had no current quit plans. Previous quit attempts were positively associated with being male, young age, risk perception, snus use intensity and non-smoking status. Quit attempts were not associated with geographical region, education level or personal income. Current quit plans were positively associated with young age, northern & western geographical region, risk, snus use intensity and non-smoking status. Quit plans were not associated with gender, educational level, or personal income.

Conclusions:
Willingness to quit snus is stronger among the young, those that worry about the health hazards of snus, daily snus users and those that do not smoke. The lack of significant associations with educational level suggests that snus cessation patterns may differ from smoking cessation patterns which tend to have a strong social gradient.