Prevalence of shisha smoking among fourth and fifth batches of medical students at Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University and its relationship with GPA

Introduction: A small survey in the College of Medicineat Al-Imam University, Riyadh Saudi Arabia, showed that there was a higher prevalence of shisha smokers compared with cigarette smokers. It is important to investigate whether this habit is spreading. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of shisha smoking among fourth and fifth batches of medical students and to find out if there is a relationship between grade point average (GPA) and shisha smoking. Materials and methods: Worldwide, many data and research conclude that there is a higher prevalence of shisha smoking among university students. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an electronic questionnaire among a sample of students studying PHARMACOLOGY and PODI blocks. Students were selected using systematic random sampling. Results: Response rate was 58.75% after 80 questions had been electronically distributed and collected from both batches. The prevalence of current shisha smoking was 25.5%, and 44.6% of the students had tried shisha smoking at least once. Conclusions: The prevalence of current shisha smokers was 25.5% and many studies suggest that it is a growing problem. Further research will be required to establish the relationship between last year’ s GPA and shisha smoking. More research with larger samples is needed to determine if there was a relation between shisha smoking and GPA. We have to increase the awareness of the high prevalence of water pipe smoking among students. Acknowledgements: Dr Abdullah Al-rabiah, Talal Al Amri, our friends in fourth and fifth batches, leaders of fourth and fifth batches.