Abstract
Usage of waterpipes is growing in popularity around the world. Limited waterpipe natural environment topography data reduces the ability of the research community to accurately assess emissions and user exposure to toxicants. A portable ergonomic waterpipe monitor was provided to study participants to use every time they smoked their own waterpipe during a one-week monitoring period in conjunction with their own choice shisha tobacco. Users provided demographic information and logged their product use to supplement electronic monitor data. A total of 44 prospective study participants were invited to an intake appointment following an on-line pre-screening survey. Of these, 34 individuals were invited to participate in the study and data for 24 individuals who completed all aspects of the 1-week monitoring protocol is presented. 7493 puffs were observed during 74 waterpipe sessions accumulating over 48 h of waterpipe usage. The 95% CI on mean puff flow rate, duration, volume and interval are presented, yielding grand means of 243 [mL/s], 3.5 [s], 850 [mL], and 28 [s] respectively. The middle 95% of puff flow rates ranged between 62 to 408 [mL/s], durations from 0.8 to 6.8 [s], and puff volumes from 87 to 1762 [mL]. A waterpipe emissions topography protocol consisting of 13 flow conditions is proposed to reflect 93% of the observed range of puff flow rate, puff duration and puff volume with representative inter-puff interval, cumulative session time and aerosol volumes.
Highlights
The 2016 consensus statement by Maziak et al [1] concluded that waterpipe smoking is emerging as a global threat to public health
The recruitment communications population consisted of adult waterpipe users affiliated with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) campus community which includes approximately
We propose the family of waterpipe Emissions Topography Protocol (ETP) flow conditions shown in Table 1 be used to fully characterize the emissions profile of waterpipes across the range of topography behaviors exhibited by users in their natural environment
Summary
The 2016 consensus statement by Maziak et al [1] concluded that waterpipe smoking is emerging as a global threat to public health. There is a need to better understand the natural environment topography behaviour of waterpipe users in a variety of own-choice settings, such as in personal residences. Maziak et al [1] presents four research focus areas and 33 core questions for assessment of waterpipe use. The paper highlights the importance of capturing variability in use patterns related to waterpipe smoking that exists due to the social aspect of the product and its set-up time. Information gathered from natural environment monitoring may inform protocols for emissions testing of waterpipe and shisha products. Such emissions tests may provide insight regarding the joint impact of user behaviour and product characteristics on total particulate mass and Hazardous and
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