Water pipe tobacco smoking among university students in Jordan

Abstract

Water pipe tobacco smoking is highly prevalent in Jordan. Although use is associated with male gender and upper middle income levels, use is widespread across other sociodemographic variables. Continued surveillance and educational interventions emphasizing the harm and addictiveness of water pipe tobacco smoking may be valuable in Jordan.

The LWDS-10J: Reliability and Validity of the Lebanon Waterpipe Dependence Scale Among University Students in Jordan

“…Overall WTS usage rates were comparable to previously documented prevalence rates in Jordan (Azab et al, 2010;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Khabour et al, 2012) and to rates found among university students in neighboring countries (Knishkowy & Amitai, 2005;Mohammed, Zhang, Newman, & Shell, 2010;Tamim et al, 2003).…”

“…Many of the measures used in the survey were adapted from previous studies on waterpipe use conducted in the United States and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (Afifi, Yeretzian, Rouhana, Nehlawi, & Mack, 2010;Azab et al, 2010;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Mandil et al, 2010;Maziak, Fouad, et al, 2004;Memon et al, 2000;Saade, Warren, Jones, & Mokdad, 2009;Tamim et al, 2003), while others were constructed for the purpose of this study. Items were Likert type and higher scores indicated greater endorsement of the statement, unless otherwise noted.…”

“…Because socioeconomic status has been linked with tobacco use in similar populations, we assessed this construct using paternal education and monthly household income (Afifi et al, 2010;Azab et al, 2010;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Mandil et al, 2010;Maziak, Fouad, et al, 2004;Memon et al, 2000;Saade et al, 2009;Tamim et al, 2003;Ward et al, 2006). For monthly household income, we asked participants to select the most appropriate category from three choices: 0-500, 501-900, and 901 or more Jordanian Dinar (JD), where 1 JD is equivalent to approximately 1.09 Euros.…”

The Social Patterning of Tobacco Use Among Women in Jordan: The Protective Effect of Education on Cigarette Smoking and the Deleterious Effect of Wealth on Cigarette and Waterpipe Smoking

“…The prevalence of WTS in the general population in Jordan is uncertain, although two recent studies among university students have reported a very high overall rate of 42.7%, with 64.4% of male students smoking waterpipe at least monthly. 12,13 To our knowledge, socioeconomic inequalities in tobacco use in Jordan have not been examined based on representative data. Whether the social patterning of smoking in this upper middleincome country (http://data.worldbank.org/country/jordan) follows the established epidemic model, whereby tobacco use becomes increasingly concentrated in lower socioeconomic groups, has not yet been tested.…”

Assessment of genotoxicity of waterpipe smoking using 8-OHdG biomarker

“…While tobacco is commonly consumed in the form of cigarettes, waterpipe tobacco smoking is a different method of tobacco use that has become increasingly popular worldwide, including in the United States (Barnett et al, 2009;Cobb et al, 2010;Dugas et al, 2010;Primack et al, 2008Primack et al, , 2010, Europe (Pärna et al, 2008;Døssing, 2009;Jensen et al, 2010;Poyrazoğlu et al, 2010), and countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region (Maziak et al, 2004;Azab et al, 2010;Khabour et al, 2012b), particularly among youths (Eissenberg et al, 2008;Maziak, 2008;Primack et al, 2008;Warren et al, 2009). A waterpipe (also referred to as a hookah or shisha) is constructed of a hose, water bowl, body, and a "head" filled with tobacco that is heated over charcoal.…”