| Summary: | Background
The worldwide
popularity of water pipe usage has sharply increased in recent years,
especially among young adults and youths.
Methods
In this study, we
conducted a secondary analysis of the school-based Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS).
GYTS included questions about waterpipe tobacco use in a total of 60 countries
between 2007 and 2015. We analysed data of 182,154 students
aged 13 to 15 years from these 60 countries (sample sizes ranging from 1,221 to 8,789),
to estimate the prevalence of ever and current (within the last 30 days)
waterpipe smoking. We also used logistic regression to assess the association
of sex and amount of weekly allowance money (proxy for family finances) with
waterpipe use.
Results
The prevalence of
current waterpipe use among youths varied significantly between countries, from
2.7% in Gabon to 35.2% in West Bank and 37.0% in Lebanon. The percentage of
youths who have ever tried waterpipe was highest in Lebanon (55.1%). In 39 out
of 54 countries that had data on current waterpipe use, males were
significantly more likely to smoke waterpipe than females, with adjusted Odds
Ratios (AOR) ranging from 1.29 to 9.51. In contrast, female students were
significantly more likely to use waterpipe in Djibouti and Maldives. Students
receiving the largest amount of weekly allowance were more likely to be current
users of waterpipe in the majority, but not all, of the countries assessed,
compared to those in the category of the lowest amount. However, AOR varied
widely, ranging from 0.58 to 12.55.
Conclusions
Waterpipe use among
youths is high in many regions, in particular within Eastern Mediterranean and
Eastern European countries. Sex and socioeconomic equalities were identified in
most countries. Systematic surveillance of waterpipe use would allow closer
monitoring of the trends in use over time.
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