Geographic distribution and time trends of water-pipe use among Iranian youth and teenage students: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Abstract

Water-pipe tobacco smoking is harmful to health, yet its rate of prevalence remains uncertain. Recent evidence has shown that the prevalence of water-pipe smoking among students is higher than in the general population. In this study, a systematic review of related literature on water-pipe use was conducted, and for this purpose, 76 articles were examined in the study. In this vein, geographic distribution and time trends of water-pipe consumption in Iran were considered. The results of this study showed that lifetime, last-year, and last-month prevalence of water-pipe smoking use among Iranian students were 28.78 (25.07–32.49), 20.84 (16.01–25.66), and 16.36 (11.86–20.85), respectively. The results also showed a wide variation by the region and sex in Iran. This study has shown the importance of addressing public prevention and alerting programs in schools and universities.

Keywords:

• Student
• water-pipe smoking
• prevalence
• Iran

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to take the opportunity to express their appreciation to Arian Samidoost of the University of Bushehr for searching the articles in the first round. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to the staff of the Persian Gulf Martyrs Hospital (Shohadaye Khalij-e-Fars Hospital) and Clinical Research Development Center of the Persian Gulf Martyrs Hospital, affiliated with the Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, for their kind collaboration.

Declaration of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Funding

There is not any sources for funding this project.

Availability of data and materials

The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on a reasonable request.

Notes

1 The WHO Stepwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS).