Abstract
Introductionglobally tobacco use kills more than seven million people annually, a figure expected to rise to 8 million deaths every year by 2030. Though perceived as safe, shisha smoking is reported to have the same or worse health effects as cigarette smoking yet, this practice has gained popularity especially among youths globally. We assessed shisha smoking and factors associated with shisha smoking to support public health interventions.Methodsa cross-sectional study was conducted among 663 systematically selected youths aged between 18-30 years attending bars in two divisions of Kampala city Uganda. Data was analyzed using Stata version 12 and logistic regression model run to establish factors independently associated with shisha smoking.Resultswe found that 458 (86.4%) youths had low knowledge of the health effects of shisha and 193 (36.4%) smoked shisha. Majority of the respondents, 184 (97.4%) smoked flavoured and sweetened tobacco, 69 (36.5%) smoked on a weekly basis, 163 (86.2%) smoked in the company of friends, 162 (85.7%) shared shisha pipes. Factors associated with shisha smoking include smoking cigarettes adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 5.91, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 3.86-9.05); positive attitude (aOR: 3.89, 95% CI: 2.50-6.05); urban residence (aOR: 3.98, 95% CI: 1.99-8.00) and older age [25-30 years] (aOR: 2.13, 95% CI: 1.37-3.22).Conclusionthe prevalence of shisha smoking is high with three in ten youths smoking shisha yet their knowledge about the health effects associated with shisha smoking was low. Shisha smoking ban should be implemented in all bars in Kampala as stated by the newly enacted tobacco law.
Highlights
Tobacco use is a known health risk associated with cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, respiratory diseases, and chronic bronchitis [1]
Knowledge on shisha smoking among youths in Kampala: two thirds, 359 (67.7%) of the participants mentioned between one to four diseases associated with shisha smoking while only 37 (7.0%) of the respondents cited six diseases and above
On further classification of knowledge into low and high, the majority of youths, 458 (86.4%) had low knowledge of the health effects associated with shisha smoking
Summary
Tobacco use is a known health risk associated with cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer, respiratory diseases, and chronic bronchitis [1]. Quantities of tobacco by-products found in the blood of shisha smokers are reportedly equivalent to a cigarette smoker who had smoked 10 sticks of cigarette a day [9, 10] These tobacco hazardous chemicals and by-products expose shisha smokers to a higher risk of diseases such as lung cancer, respiratory diseases, chronic bronchitis, low birth weight, cardiovascular diseases, blindness [8] and nicotine dependence [11,12,13]. Studies conducted in different countries have identified factors associated with shisha smoking like limited knowledge about the health hazards of shisha smoking [12], individual factors including age, sex, education, attitude, residence and peer pressure [21, 22] , among others. Our study assessed the knowledge, practices and factors associated with shisha smoking among the youth attending bars in Central and Makindye divisions of Kampala city to generate information useful for public health interventions toward shisha smoking
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