title: Water Pipe (shisha) Use and Legislation Awareness Against Shisha Smoking Among Medical Students: A study from Karachi, Pakistan.
abstract: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of shisha smoking; its associated factors and awareness among medical students of Karachi, Pakistan following the imposition of nationwide shisha ban. A cross sectional study was conducted among medical students of two medical universities, namely Sindh Medical College and Aga Khan University Karachi, Pakistan from October till December 2014. A total of 422 participants were included. Data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire. The mean age was 21 ± 1.6 years and 229 (54.26 %) were females. Shisha smoking was found to be relatively common among medical students; the prevalence being 21.5 % out of which 73.62 % were males and belonged to a private medical college p value < 0.001. Majority of those who smoked shisha were aware that it contains tobacco (59.34 %), it has no filtration system (42.85 %), it is harmful (91.20 %) and 47.25 % held the opinion that shisha was not any better than cigarettes. It was alarming that majority students were aware of its harmful effects. However, a significant lack of awareness of the legislation against shisha was found among students.
authors.affiliation: The Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Arham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zavery
authors.affiliation: The Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Faisal
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.affiliation: The Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Arbaz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riaz
authors.affiliation: The Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pervez
authors.affiliation: Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Nousheen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.affiliation: Section of Pulmonary & Critical Care, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. Javaid.khan@aku.edu.
authors.forename: Javaid A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014495:Universities; D000073867:Water Pipe Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Medical students; Shisha; Tobacco control; Waterpipe