Knowledge, attitude, and practice of water-pipe smoking among medical students in Rawalpindi, Pakistan

Objectives: 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 smoking. Even then waterpipe smoking was relatively common among them.