Al-Delaimy and Al-Ani BMC Public Health (2021) 21:1317 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11386-4 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Prevalence of hookah smoking and associated factors among male high school students in Iraq Ahmed K. Al-Delaimy1* and Waleed A. T. Al-Ani2 Abstract Background: The use of the hookah-smoking device is increasing at a large scale in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Hookah users are exposed to an array of chemical compounds and may suffer several chronic diseases as a result. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hookah use among male high school students in the region and to study different associated factors in order to provide local tobacco control officials with an understanding of this public health problem. Methods: A convenient non-probability sampling study was conducted among students in three high schools in Al-Karkh district, Baghdad. The study period was from October 2017 till January 2019 and included 847 male students aged 15–18 years old. Using a simple random technique to select the high schools from a list of schools we chose one school from each directorate. Descriptive, chi-square test of significance, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses of data were carried out for identifying the risk factors associated with hookah smoking among these high school adolescent males. Results: The overall prevalence of hookah smoking in the last 30 days among male high school students was 46.1% while in the past 6 months it was as high as 85.7%. More than two-thirds (70.6%) of the students thought that hookah smoking was more socially acceptable than cigarette smoking. Factors such as having first heard about it from friends, the media, or the presence of a hookah café near their residence were significantly associated (p > 0.05) with hookah smoking among the students. Similarly, being surrounded by friends who used hookah was also found to be significantly associated with hookah smoking, with an odds ratio of 0.18, 95% CI (0.087–0.394). Hookah smokers were less likely than non-hookah smokers to report its use as forbidden in Islam and more likely to say it is allowed in Islam. Conclusions: We found an alarmingly high use of hookah smoking among male high school students in this study. Family members and peers had an important role in the prevention of hookah smoking among these students. There is a need for students to be educated about the toxicity of hookah tobacco smoking and its direct effect on their health. Keywords: Prevalence, Hookah use, High school students, Risk factors, Iraq * Correspondence: [email protected] 1Family & Community Medicine Department / Anbar Medical College, University of Anbar, Ramadi, Iraq Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Al-Delaimy and Al-Ani BMC Public Health (2021) 21:1317 Page 2 of 9 Background access to hookah devices, and their social acceptability Globally, tobacco use is the second leading cause of [26–29]. mortality, and is responsible for the deaths of 1 in 10 However, there are few studies on hookah smoking be- adults [1]. Lung cancer is considered the leading cause havior in Iraq, and these have mostly been focused on of cancer mortality and is linked to the carcinogenic college students [30]. Therefore, our aim was to study compounds found in tobacco smoke [2, 3]. Nicotine is the prevalence of hookah use among male high school known to decrease the body’s immune response against students in Iraq and the different associated factors malignant growth [4]. In addition to being linked to can- linked with hookah smoking with the goal of under- cer, tobacco smoke causes several respiratory infections, standing how health policymakers and the government and is also a factor in hypertension and diabetes, which, can approach this growing public health problem. among others, are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The effects of each of these risk factors potenti- ate the risk of cardiovascular events [5–7]. Methods Hookah, also known as Shisha, Hubble-Bubble, Nargi- Study design leh, and Water-Pipe (WP) smoking, is a common form A cross-sectional survey in three high schools at Al- of tobacco use in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although Kharkh district west of Baghdad was conducted between hookah smoking practices date back at least 400 years, October 2018 and the end of December 2018, an area the current use of these devices is increasing at large with a population of approximately 100,000 residents. scale within the region, and is now also increasingly be- ing used in Western countries [8, 9]. Hookah design fea- Participants tures a water bowl, hose, and mouthpiece [10]. Several Male high school students aged 15 to 18 years old were studies have shown that hookah smoking contains harm- eligible to participate in the study, which involved three – ful chemicals [11 14], and a single 45-min hookah ses- different year levels, including 4th, 5th, and 6th (equiva- sion can expose the smoker to up to 48.6 times the lent to 10th, 11th, and 12th grade high school levels in the amount of smoke from a cigarette [10, 15]. In the United US). A total of 1375 students were therefore invited from States (US), a significant increase in the use of hookah the three schools. However, the 6th graders (n =498)were – among high school students (4.1 7.2%) was reported be- subsequently excluded due to concerns from their school tween 2011 and 2015 [16, 17]. Another study in the US administration regarding participation in the study being showed that the percentage of both ever and current use potentially disruptive to their important final graduation of hookah was higher among males than females [18]. year. The study participation rate was ultimately 96.5% Young people have a misconception that hookah with 847/877 students completing the questionnaire after smoking is less harmful than cigarette smoking due to 30 students elected to drop out of the study. the filtration effects provided by the water [19]. How- ever, levels of toxicants in a single hookah tobacco smoke puff can be multiple times higher than found in Sampling method smoking a single cigarette [10]. These toxic substances The study used a convenience (non-probability) sample include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nicotine, car- within one of the two Baghdad districts, Al-Kharkh and bon monoxide, nitric oxides, formaldehyde, and others Risafa. Al-Karkh district, which is similar to Risafa on [11, 13, 14]. the opposite side of the Tigris River, was subsequently Tumbak, Jurak, and Mu’assel are the most widely selected for the study. Although Al-Kharkh has multiple available types of hookah tobacco, each containing dif- schools in its three educational directorates, due to limi- ferent added substances [20]. Tumbak is unflavored to- tations in available resources for this study, only one bacco leaves (Ajami). Jurak contains tobacco, 20% dried school from each directorate could be included. We fruit, and sugarcane. Both are used widely in Asia and therefore used a simple random technique to select the Middle East. Mu’assel contains 70% sugarcane, gly- which of the high schools from a list of schools to in- cerol, flavorings, and 30% tobacco [20–22]. The pleasant clude from each. Each directorate has schools at its per- smell and mild taste from these flavored hookah tobac- iphery that are 3–4 km away from its center with the cos encourages their use, especially among adolescents. other schools closer together and approximately 1–2km Some popular tobacco flavors include fruit, chocolate, from the district center. Due to additional security- spice, alcohol, menthol, candy, sweet, molasses, as well related factors, we selected schools from each of the as many others [23–25]. three directorates that were closer together, with 8 such In the Middle East several significant factors have been schools within one directorate, 10 such schools in the found to contribute to hookah smoking, including reli- second directorate, and 10 such schools in the third gion, friends and family, low-self-confidence, ready directorate. Al-Delaimy and Al-Ani BMC Public Health (2021) 21:1317 Page 3 of 9 Study size smoking that are most harmful to health”, “is hookah The study size was based on the sampling equation: (n = smoking acceptable socially more than cigarette smok- Z2 1-α/2 P(1-P)/d2) where n is the required sample size, ing”, “hookah smoking is less harmful and less addictive Z2 1-α/2 is the confidence interval (95% = 1.96, P = 0.44 than cigarette smoking”, “student’s opinion about hoo- estimated proportion), d is the 0.025 desired precision kah smoking in Islam”,and“support regulations to close [31, 32].