Waterpipe (narghile) smoking among medical and non-medical university students in Turkey

Background: Hazardous health behaviour in young people is an important factor that affects the individual risk for non-communicable diseases and other disorders later in life. This study aimed to determine the hazardous health behaviour of first and last class medical students of Erciyes University. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out with 240 medical students from the first and 130 students from the last (sixth) class. Data were obtained by questionnaire between March-April 2012. In total, 339 students were included with a response rate of 91.6%. Socio-demographic characteristics, school success, self-reported economic difficulties, health perceptions, hazardous health behaviour related to chronic disease, tobacco, alcohol, substance use, body weight, height, traffic, violence and nutrition were assessed in line with the literature. Results: Of the participants; 64.0% were from first and 36.0% were from the last class. Mean ages for the first and last classes were 19.4±1.5 and 24.0±1.5 years, respectively. In the current study, males exhibited more hazardous behaviour than females. Sime 19.8% of the students in the study group used alcohol, 35.4% used a waterpipe, and 24.8% used tobacco at least once. These rates increased in both genders in the last class and the increase in males was significant. Some 3.8% of the students in the current study used pleasure-inducing illegal substances at least once. All the students participating in the current study were single, the number of males reported not using condoms (8.6%) was 4.56 times higher compared to females. Some 64.0% of the students did not perform physical activity lasting at least 30 minutes for five times a week, 13.0% did not sleep for mean 7-8 hours daily, males having a 2.9 times higher risk. More than 1/3 of the students did not consume cooked vegetable dishes and ¼ did not consume fresh fruits and salads, the rates were higher among males. Conclusions: In the current study, hazardous health behaviour was prevalent among medical students, with higher risks among males and last class students. According to these results, medical curriculum may be focused on decreasing hazardous health behaviour. In addition, in order to prevent unhealthy behaviour, the number of youth-friendly health facilities should be increased.

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Hazardous Health Behaviour among Medical Students: a Study from Turkey

Naçar¹,

Çetinkaya²,

Baykan³

et al. 2015

“…However, studies on the similar lines have already been carried out in Turkey (Poyrazoglu et al, 2010) The age of initiation of hookah smoking among the youth in Pune was found to be 17.3 years as compared to 19.2 years in Syrian students (Mazaik et al, 2004). While, a study in Pakistan (Qudsia Anjum et al, 2008) has reported that adolescents as young as 14 years old have started smoking hookah.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…There are 100 million daily hookah smokers worldwide (Poyrazoglu et al, 2010). It is common in the Arabian Peninsula, China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Europe and North America.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the present time, this ancient trend has re-emerged again. Different epidemiological studies related to hookah smoking have been conducted, which evaluate the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of the youth and university students (Maziak, 2004;Smith-Simone et al, 2008;Aljarrah et al, 2009;Dar-Odeh et al, 2010;Jordan and Delnevo, 2010;Poyrazoglu et al, 2010;Ahmed et al, 2011;AL-Naggar and Saghir Fatma, 2011;Martinasek, 2011;Braun et al, 2012;Brockman et al, 2012;Nuzzo et al, 2012). No study was found, which relates to information about the personal characteristics, perceptions and behaviour of the hookah smokers in India.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hookah Smoking: Characteristics, Behavior and Perceptions of Youth Smokers in Pune, India

Kakodkar¹,

Bansal²

2013

Background: Hookah smoking has been referred to as a global tobacco epidemic by public health officials. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics, behaviour and perceptions related to hookah smoking among the youth smokers in Pune. Methods: Two hundred and eighty established hookah smokers participated in this study. Data was collected using a 29-item questionnaire, constructed using three main domains: Characteristics (socio-demographic and personal), behaviour and perceptions (about harmful effects in comparison to cigarette smoking). Results: The results indicated that the mean age of starting hookah smoking was 17.3 years; 75% of participants did not have parental acceptance; light-headedness, dizziness and headache were most common reported nicotine effects, post hookah smoking. Hookah smoking on a daily basis was reported by 24.6% participants. The mean time of hookah session was 1 hour and 19 minutes. 68.2% participants were reported to smoke hookah in hookah-cafes and 35.7% participants were found to share the hookah. Some 66.7% participants had no intention to quit. Most of them (71-80%) had misperception about the safety of hookah smoking over cigarette smoking and 54-82% participants were unaware of health effects. Conclusions: Educational intervention is urgently needed to create awareness among the youth about the harmful effects of hookah smoking.

“…Participants gave verbal consent for the use of their data for the purpose of this study. Given that the Sakarya University campus population is 14,042 and reported 32,5% (Poyrazoglu et al, 2010) prevalence of narghile smoking among university students, sample size was calculated as 887 with 5% confidence limit and 99% confidence level. Questionnaires were distributed randomly to students on Sakarya University campus .The participants completed an anonymous, voluntary, selfreport questionnaire.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fallacies about Water Pipe Use in Turksih University Students - What Might Be the Consequences?

Alvur¹,

Çınar²,

Akduran³

et al. 2014

Background: The popularity of the narghile waterpipe, also referred to as hookah, shisha or hubble-bubble has increased tremendously during the past few decades. The aim of this study was to expose perception of narghile among a representative sample of university students in Sakarya University campus. Materials and Methods: Written approval was taken from the local education authority. An anonymous questionnaire which was prepared by the investigators and contained 17 questions was administered. Nine of the questions were related to socio-demographic characteristics and eight were related to the students harm perceptions about waterpipe. A total of 1,320 questionnaries were received and after preliminary evaluation 1,255 (95.7%) were found to be suitable for evaluation. The data was evaluated in SPSS program by using percentages and averages. Results: The mean±SD age of the students was 20.8±2.29 years (min 18, max 32). There were 864 (68.8%) females and 391 (31.2%) males. A total of 6.3 % of the students (n=79) believed that waterpipe is not harmful because its smoke does not burn the lungs. Almost one-third (n=318) think that the carcinogenic chemicals are filtered while waterpipe smoke passes from the water; 12.1 % of the students (n=152) checked "true" for the statement of "waterpipe smoke contains no nicotine". It is seen that 14.0 % of the students (n=176) think waterpipe with fruit/ aroma is healthier than plain waterpipe. Conclusions: As a result of this study, it is found out that a substantial number of university students have false beliefs on harmful effects of waterpipe smoking.