Adolescent elite athletes’ cigarette smoking, use of snus, and alcohol

The purpose was to examine cigarette smoking, use of snus, alcohol, and performance-enhancing illicit drugs among adolescent elite athletes and controls, and possible gender and sport group differences. First-year students at 16 Norwegian Elite Sport High Schools (n = 677) and two randomly selected high schools (controls, n = 421) were invited to participate. Totally, 602 athletes (89%) and 354 (84%) controls completed the questionnaire. More con-trols than athletes were smoking, using snus, and drink-ing alcohol. Competing in team sports was associated with use of snus [odds ratio = 2.8, 95 % confidence inter-val (CI) 1.6 to 4.7] and a similar percentage of male and female handball (22.2 % vs 18.8%) and soccer players (15.7 % vs 15.0%) reported using snus. For controls, not participating in organized sport was a predictor fo