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. 2022 May 6;19(9):5679.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095679.

Smoking Behavior among Adolescents: The Lebanese Experience with Cigarette Smoking and Waterpipe Use

Marwan Akel  1   2   3   4 , Fouad Sakr  1   5 , Iqbal Fahs  1 , Ahmad Dimassi  1 , Mariam Dabbous  1   6 , Virginie Ehlinger  4 , Pascale Salameh  2   7   8 , Emmanuelle Godeau  4   9
Affiliations

Smoking Behavior among Adolescents: The Lebanese Experience with Cigarette Smoking and Waterpipe Use

Marwan Akel et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

(1) Background: The study aims to assess cigarette smoking and waterpipe experimentation among Lebanese adolescent school students with respect to their gender, region, age, and socioeconomic status. (2) Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, where students between 11 to 18 years of age were included from all over Lebanon. (3) Results: A total of 1133 students were interviewed. The total proportion of adolescents who ever experimented with cigarette smoking was 24.5%. Males experimented with cigarette smoking more commonly than females (31.9% vs. 19.1%; p < 0.001). Cigarette smoking experimentation was higher among students from the Beirut area (33.6%; p < 0.001) in comparison to other regions, and among those with poor health perception (29.1% vs. 19.8%; p < 0.001) compared to students with excellent health perception. The total proportion of adolescents who ever used a waterpipe was 33.9%. Waterpipes were significantly more experimented with among males than females (40.3% vs. 29.8%; p < 0.001), and among students with bad perception about their health (39.4% vs. 28.9%; p < 0.001). Adolescents who experimented with both cigarettes and waterpipes constitute 22.2% of the studied sample. (4) Conclusions: The rate of tobacco product use is alarming and constitutes a major public health issue for adolescents that urgently needs intervention. The findings raise important policy implications for the development of cigarette smoking prevention programs for youth.

Keywords: adolescents; children; cigarette; school aged; smoking; waterpipe.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proportion of boys who have ever experienced smoking according to age and region.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proportion of girls who have ever experienced smoking according to age and region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by the Lebanese International University.
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