Comparison of Shisha Smoking Behavior among Medical and Pharmacy Students

Abstract

Background: Health care workers are respected in every society and have a strong influence on the behaviour of the community. In order to reduce the shisha dependence in the Pakistani population, it is necessary to evaluate the perspective of future doctors and pharmacists regarding this addiction as they become role models for the future generations. Objective: The aim is to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of shisha use among medical students and pharmacy students in order to assess their support in the anti-shisha campaigns of Pakistan. Methodology: Cross sectional study was performed in four major medical universities of Karachi, Pakistan through a modification of the WHO global health survey questionnaire. Result: 398 medical students and 470 pharmacy students were included in the study which showed that currently 9.6% pharmacy students and 4.8% medical students used shisha daily (p = 0.000). Pharmacy students started shisha use in less than 15 years of age while this number was 29.5% among medical students (P = 0.000). Moreover, 44.6% pharmacy students and 50% medical students were not planning to quit this addiction within the next six months. 14% of pharmacy students and 20.4% in medical students (P = 0.002) were unaware that passive smoking caused lung cancer, while 23.4% pharmacy students and 33.5% medical students rejected it as cause of heart diseases (p = 0.006). Conclusion: A significant number of medical and pharmacy students were unaware about some of the serious consequences of shisha smoking. Therefore, both groups of students need to be educated about the health hazards of shisha use, in order to control this growing menace.

Knowledge and Attitude Towards Shisha Smoking Among Health College Students at Princess Nourah University.

“…This is in contrast to a study that was conducted in Pakistan that found the level of knowledge is different from college to college, specifically that pharmacy students have better knowledge than medical students. (16) The study finds no association between the knowledge of shisha smoking and smoking practice. This is in contrast to several studies conducted around the world: In the USA a slightly significant association between knowledge and smoking practice was shown.…”

The Health Status of Lebanese Community Pharmacists: Prevalence of Poor Lifestyle Behaviors and Chronic Conditions

“…However, in Saudi Arabia, the prevalence of cigarette smoking among community pharmacists was 19.9% which is greater than our study ( Al-Arifi, 2004 ). Additionally, a cross-sectional study in four major universities of Karachi, Pakistan demonstrated that 9.6% of the pharmacy students and 4.8% of the medical students smoke shisha occasionally ( Kumar et al, 2016 ).…”