PREVALENCE AND BEHAVIOUR OF SMOKING MEDWAKH AMONG ABU DHABI-UNITED ARAB EMIRATES’ POPULATION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Medwakh is one of the non-cigarette products that has recently emerged as a public health problem in the United ArabEmirates. It is a narrow pipe filled with dried tobacco leaves and is mixed with herbs, spices, or at times with a bark knownas 'dhoka' (meaning 'dizzy' in Arabic). The purpose of the current study is to determine the prevalence and behaviour ofMedwakh smoking among the general population of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. For this objective, the authorsconducted a descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study. The three main outcomes were never smokers, currentsmokers (6 months or older) and the number of Medwakh smoked per day. Smoking behaviour, sociodemographic factorsand the attitudes of the study participants were assessed in this study. The outcomes from the regression models identifiedthe association between each outcome measure and age, gender, income, education level, marital status, smoking for ?6months, and parental and peer smoking. The prevalence of the current Medwakh intervention in Abu Dhabi was found tobe 22.5%. The average age at which the respondents started smoking was 25 years. Daily Medwakh users smoked a medianof 3.0 per day. The highest prevalence rate for Medwakh smoking was reported among men (29.9%), single individuals(24.2%), and younger age groups (18–37 years-37.5%) with bachelor's degrees (29.3%). The same outcome was also trueamong the users, who smoked for more than 6 months (41.9%) and the participants who had colleagues or parents withsmoking habit. The study also found income differences among the study participants. The awareness about damagereduction was extremely high among the Medwakh users (78.8%). No participant reported that they were denied a Medwakhpurchase on the basis of their age. Medwakh is considered as a herbal substance with no health hazard in Abu Dhabi, UnitedArab Emirates and is prevalently consumed at high rates. It has also heavily burdened the perceptions of harm. Furtherresearch into smoking behaviour is needed to determine the rest of the variables that heavily influence the smokingdecisions.