Prevalence and behavior regarding cigarette and water pipe smoking among Syrian undergraduates

Abstract

Background: The devastating Syrian crisis has raised concern regarding the social acceptance of smoking especially with water pipe use becoming a growing epidemic. We aim to determine the prevalence of cigarette and water pipe smoking among university students, along with identifying the addictive behavior among university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Syrian Private University during World No-Tobacco Day, in Damascus, Syria during the war crisis. The survey consists of 4 sections: socio-demographic information, Fagerstr€ om Test of Nicotine Dependence, attitude towards water pipes, and perspective about smoking. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Sciences version 25.0 (SPSS Inc., United States.) Results: Of the 622 participants, 429 (69%) were males with a mean age of 21.3 AE 3.1 years. The prevalence of tobacco smoking was 320 (51.4%), 208 (23.8%) for cigarettes, and 112 (18.0%) for water pipe. Smoking was significantly higher among male non-medical university students. The majority were low to moderate dependent when assessed by the Fagerstr€ om Test of Nicotine Dependence. Conclusions: This study showed a very high prevalence of smoking indicating the need for smoking cessation programs, access to effective quitting treatments, and mass media campaigns to diminish smoking among the youth.

Patterns of Tobacco Smoking and Nicotine Vaping among University Students in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Older students were more likely to be current smokers, particularly shisha smokers, while male students were more likely to be cigarette, shisha, or midwakh smokers or e-cigarette/ENDs users than female students. Compared to regional estimates, the prevalence of smoking (15.1%) among university students in the UAE in this study was lower than that reported among college students in Oman (23.5%) [28], undergraduate students in Syria (51.4%) [29], and male and female university students in Yemen (36.3% and 28.0%, respectively), Bahrain (27.0% vs. 4.2%, respectively), Tunisia (38.4% and 3.4%, respectively), Egypt (61.2% and 18.9%, respectively), Palestine (52.7% and 16.5%, respectively), and Jordan (54.3% and 11.1%, respectively) [30]. The prevalence of cigarettes (5.5%) and shisha (5.5%) smoking among university students in the UAE was far lower than that reported among UAE residents generally (37.7%) in 2018 [2], adolescents in Qatar (9.8%) [31], Libya (cigarettes: 80.2%) [32], Syria (cigarettes: 23.8%, shisha: 18.0%) [29], Jordan (cigarettes: 80.0%) [33], Saudi Arabia (cigarettes: 70.7%, shisha: 36.4-36.3%) [34,35], and Lebanon (shisha: 29.5%) [36], but slightly higher than the reported shisha smoking among university students in Bahrain (2.0%) and similar to the previously reported shisha smoking in Yemen (5.0%) [30] and among university students in Sharjah, UAE in 2005 (5.6%) [37].…”

Study of the Relationship between Malignant Pleural Effusion and Common Causing Tumors

“…Which he interpreted as being related to the history of chronic smoking in the male patient [7]. The results of our study may explain the noticeable increase in the smoking rate of females in society during the Syrian crisis [8].…”

Obesity And Its Related Factors Among University Medical Students In Syria: A Cross- Sectional Study

“…In contrast, cigarette smoking is associated with lower BMI (13). These are particularly concerning for Syria as one study found that among under graduate students, 51.4% smoked tobacco, 23.8% smoked cigarettes and 18.0% smoked water pipe in 2019, but this study was conducted in a private university setting (24). Another study found that smoking prevalent in Syria was 20.75% (25) while another one which was conducted in 2019 and used similar online methods to this study found that 37.9% were smokers (26).…”