title: Tobacco Use and Its Health Effects among Professional Athletes in Qatar.
abstract: The objective of the study was to determine the effects of tobacco use on selected markers of health and lung function in professional athletes. A total of 108 male professional athletes participated in the study from ten ball game teams in the same sport league in Qatar (age = 26.4 ± 5.1 yrs, height = 190.6 ± 11.9 cm, and weight = 91.5 ± 16.4 kg). The athletes have been playing professionally for about 6.3 years on average. In addition to demographic and tobacco use status, the following clinical variables were measured: resting blood pressure, heart rate, FVC, FEV1sec, and PEF. The prevalence of tobacco use among the athletes was 27.7%. The FVC, FVC%, and FEV1% were significantly lower among the smokers compared to the nonsmokers (p= 0.003, 0.044, and 0.001, resp.). There were no significant differences between cigarettes smokers and nonsmokers in BP, HR, FEV1, FEV1/FVC, PEF, and PEF%. Similarly, those who smoked shisha had lower FEV1% values as compared to those who did not smoke shisha (p= 0.001). The decrease of FEV1and FVC among smokers compared to nonsmokers is similar to what has been reported in the literature about other populations.
authors.affiliation: Sport Science Program, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Zaina
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chaabane
authors.affiliation: Sport Science Program, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Zsolt
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4101-3417
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Murlasits
authors.affiliation: Department of Global and Public Health, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Education City, Qatar Foundation, P.O. Box 24144, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Ziyad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mahfoud
authors.affiliation: Sport Science Program, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2312-0358
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goebel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D064424:Tobacco Use / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult