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

Homam Alolabi; Mhd Obai Alchallah; Fatema Mohsen; Mosa Shibani; Hlma Ismail; Mhd Amin Alzabibi; Bisher Sawaf

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05423

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

Heliyon. 2020 Nov 5;6(11):e05423. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05423. eCollection 2020 Nov.

Authors

Homam Alolabi¹, Mhd Obai Alchallah¹, Fatema Mohsen¹, Mosa Shibani¹, Hlma Ismail¹, Mhd Amin Alzabibi¹, Bisher Sawaf^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, Syrian Private University, Damascus, Syria.
² Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center Beirut, Lebanon.
³ Internal Medicine Department, Hamad General Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar.

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, Fagerström 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 ± 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 Fagerström 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.

Keywords: Attitude; Cigarette; Education; Epidemiology; Fagerström test; Public health; Smoking; Substance abuse and dependence; Syria; University students; War; Water pipe.