Prevalence of Hookah smoking and associated factors among male high school students in Iraq

A.K Al-Delaimy,W Al-Ani

doi:10.1289/isee.2020.virtual.p-1193

Abstract

Prevalence of Hookah smoking and associated factors among male high school students in Iraq.AbstractBackground: The use of the hookah-smoking device is increasing at a large scale in the Eastern Mediterranean region and reaching to Western countries. Hookah smoke users are exposed to a lot of chemical compounds and several chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hookah use among male high school students and to study different associated factors linked with hookah smoking. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among students in three high schools (for males only) in the Karkh District, Baghdad. The study period was from Oct. 2017 till Jan. 2019 and included 847 male students. A structured Knowledge Attitude and Practice questionnaire were used to identify their knowledge and use of hookah smoking. Descriptive, chi-square, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analysis of data was carried out using the available statistical package of SPSS-25. Results: The overall prevalence of hookah smoking among high school male students was high (46%). More than two-thirds (70.6%) of them think that waterpipe smoking is acceptable socially more than cigarette smoking. More than half of the participants (55%) first heard about hookah smoking from friends and friends constitute close to two-thirds (65.2%) of those who smoke hookah around students. Almost half of the respondents think hookah smoking is not encouraged in the faith of Islam (47.3%) and less than a quarter (20.9%) think it's completely forbidden in Islam.Conclusions: Hookah smoking is increasing among high school students and becoming a socially acceptable behavior that needs preventive strategies targeting this age group.

Highlights

The use of the hookah-smoking device is increasing at a large scale in the Eastern Mediterranean region and reaching to Western countries
They were less likely to say it is forbidden in Islam and more likely to say it is allowed in Islam than non-hookah users
Hookah smoking is high among high school students and becoming a socially acceptable behavior

Summary

Introduction

The use of the hookah-smoking device is increasing at a large scale in the Eastern Mediterranean region and reaching to Western countries. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hookah use among male high school students and to study different associated factors linked with hookah smoking and provide tobacco control officials an understanding of this public health problem. Many carcinogenic compounds are found in the smoke from tobacco which is the leading cause of different types of cancer in the body especially; lung cancer [2] is considered the leading cause of cancer mortality in the world [3]. Hookah smoking practices date back at least 400 years, nowadays the use of this device to smoke is increasing at large scale from the Eastern Mediterranean region reaching Western countries [8,9]. Another study in the US, shows that the percentage of both ever and current use of hookah smoking were higher among Males than females [18]

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