Effect of Age and Gender on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Shisha Smoking among Medical and Dental Students of Karachi, Pakistan

• Main Authors: Nazeer Khan, Sundus lftikhar, Muhammad Umer Siddiqui, Adnan Ahmed Padhiar, Syed Affanulhaq
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dow University of Health Sciences 2010-09-01
• Series: Journal of the Dow University of Health Sciences
• Subjects: shisha smoking; medical students; effect of gender; effect of age-groups; pakistan
• Online Access: http://www.jduhs.com/index.php/jduhs/article/view/177
• ISSN: 1995-2198; 2410-2180

Objective: To determine the effects o f age and gender on knowledge, attitude and practice o f Shisha smokingamong medical and dental students ofKarachi, Pakistan. Methodology: This cross sectional survey was conducted in 2007 among 7 colleges randomly chosen from20 medical and dental colleges ofKarachi. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed among the studentsduring the class hours. The questionnaire contained demographic information, area o f study (medicine/dentistry),year o f study, smoking habits, frequency and place o f smoking, attitude and knowledge o f diseases related toshisha smoking. Results: Out of 1204 participants, 22.8% indicated that they smoked shisha. The prevalence among males andfemales were 41% and 16.9%, respectively. Only 35% o f the respondents indicated that they smoked shisha“daily†or weakly. 47.5% mentioned that they used shisha bar for shisha smoking. 67% o f the respondentsshowed that they were influenced by friends to adopt this habit. 59% of the students considered shisha smokingharmful. 62% o f the students related the shisha smoking to lung diseases and about quarter o f the respondentsrelated it to cancer and heart diseases. Twenty six to thirty percent o f the respondents indicated that theyexperienced headache, dizziness and cough during shisha smoking. Only seven percent o f the respondentstook the advice o f the doctors after feeling the above mentioned symptoms. Conclusion: The study concludes that a high prevalence o f shisha smoking exists among medical/dentalstudents and knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) among males are significantly different in m any respectsto the females. However, the age groups do not affect significantly in m ost o f the responses.