Comparison of concomitant use of water pipe and cigarette to exclusive cigarette smoking smoking, public health, adults

Introduction: Dual use of tobacco products such as cigarettes and water pipe may be associated with increased risk of nicotine dependence and smoking-related diseases. IN this study concomitant use of waterpipe and cigarette and its comparison to only cigarette smoking was evaluated.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted on Tehran residents over ۱۵ years of age selected via cluster, multi-stage randomized sampling from different geographical districts of Tehran .The data were collected using the water pipe section of the Global Adult Tobacco Survey questionnaire.Results: The study had ۱۸۳۰ participants among which ۲۴۳ participants only consumed waterpipe, ۱۲۰ cases only smoked cigarette and ۷۶ cases (۴.۲%) were dual users. The mean age of dual users was ۳۳.۱±۱۱.۳ years, while the mean age of only cigarette smokers was ۴۶±۱۶.۵ years (P-Value≤۰.۰۰۱).The mean number of consumed cigarette for the cigarette smokers was ۹.۹±۷.۹ and it was ۶.۸±۷.۲ for dual users (P-Value<۰.۰۰۱). Comparing to cigarette smokers (۳۵.۲%) most of the dual users (۶۴.۷%) believed that waterpipe is not addictive (P-Value=۰.۰۰۱). ۱۳.۲% of dual users and ۵.۳% of cigarette users believed that harmful effects of waterpipe were fewer than cigarette (P-Value<۰۰۰). While ۵۴.۱% of dual users and ۷۸.۵% of cigarette smokers believed that waterpipe consumption could cause lung cancer.Conclusions: Younger age and misperception about safety of water-pipe were significantly more in dual users than exclusive cigarette smokers. It is necessary to promote the knowledge about harms of water-pipe smoking in society especially among youth. Besides, it is needed to do further studies on the risks of water pipe consumption as a gateway to cigarette consumption.

Keywords:

Water Pipe , Cigarette Smoking , Public Health , Adults