title: Knowledge, attitude, and practice of water-pipe smoking among medical students in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess knowledge, attitude and practice of water-pipe smoking among medical students.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaire was conducted at Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi, in 2011, and included all five batches of medical students. SPSS 17 was used for statistical analysis of the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final sample comprised 724 participants; 505 (69.7%) being female and 219 (30.2%) being male students. Besides, 625 (86.6%) participants knew about shisha smoking, and 140 (22.4%) reported to have smoked shisha. Curiosity (n = 44; 31.4%) and social trends (n = 41; 29.2%) were cited as main reasons for shisha smoking. Overall, 572 (91.5%) participants thought shisha was dangerous for health, with majority 261 (41.8%) believing it to be more dangerous than cigarettes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was awareness among medical students about the hazards of shisha smokng. Even then water-pipe smoking was relatively common among them.
authors.forename: Mustafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haroon
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munir
authors.forename: Waqas
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mahmud
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hyder
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult