Abstract
The popularity of the narghile waterpipe, also referred to as hookah, shisha or hubble-bubble has increased tremendously during the past few decades. The aim of this study was to expose perception of narghile among a representative sample of university students in Sakarya University campus. Written approval was taken from the local education authority. An anonymous questionnaire which was prepared by the investigators and contained 17 questions was administered. Nine of the questions were related to socio-demographic characteristics and eight were related to the students harm perceptions about waterpipe. A total of 1,320 questionnaries were received and after preliminary evaluation 1,255 (95.7%) were found to be suitable for evaluation. The data was evaluated in SPSS program by using percentages and averages. The mean ± SD age of the students was 20.8 ± 2.29 years (min 18, max 32). There were 864 (68.8%) females and 391 (31.2%) males. A total of 6.3 % of the students (n=79) believed that waterpipe is not harmful because its smoke does not burn the lungs. Almost one-third (n=318) think that the carcinogenic chemicals are filtered while waterpipe smoke passes from the water; 12.1 % of the students (n=152) checked "true" for the statement of "waterpipe smoke contains no nicotine". It is seen that 14.0 % of the students (n=176) think waterpipe with fruit/ aroma is healthier than plain waterpipe. As a result of this study, it is found out that a substantial number of university students have false beliefs on harmful effects of waterpipe smoking.
Highlights
The popularity of the narghile waterpipe, referred to as hookah, shisha or hubble-bubble has increased tremendously during the past few decades (Tamim et al, 2003; Chaaya et al, 2004; Maziak et al, 2004; 2005; Akl, 2011) and has spread beyond the bounds of Arab countries to other parts of the world, including Europe and America (Smith-Simone et al, 2008; Jarrett et al, 2012; Shihadeh et al, 2012).Sakarya is a small providence of Turkey located in the Marmara region
Almost one-third (n=318) think that the carcinogenic chemicals are filtered while waterpipe smoke passes from the water; 12.1 % of the students (n=152) checked “true” for the statement of “waterpipe smoke contains no nicotine”
It is seen that 14.02% of the students (n=176) think waterpipe with fruit/aroma is healthier than plain waterpipe, 1.2% have no idea about the issue
Summary
The popularity of the narghile waterpipe, referred to as hookah, shisha or hubble-bubble has increased tremendously during the past few decades (Tamim et al, 2003; Chaaya et al, 2004; Maziak et al, 2004; 2005; Akl, 2011) and has spread beyond the bounds of Arab countries to other parts of the world, including Europe and America (Smith-Simone et al, 2008; Jarrett et al, 2012; Shihadeh et al, 2012).Sakarya is a small providence of Turkey located in the Marmara region. Even though narghile smoking likely exposes users to high levels of various toxicants and that the practice may be addictive (Maziak et al, 2005), it is popularly perceived as less harmful and toxic than cigarette smoking because of the purported filtering effect of the water bubbler (Kandela, 2000; Ward et al, 2007; Smith-Simone et al, 2008; Griffiths et al, 2011; Al-Naggar and Bobryshev, 2012).Volatile aldehydes, especially formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein were shown in narghile smoke (Al Rashidi et al, 2008) These are associated with a significant number of cigarette smoking diseases including chronic pulmonary disorder and cancer (Cogliano et al, 2004). Conclusions: As a result of this study, it is found out that a substantial number of university students have false beliefs on harmful effects of waterpipe smoking
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