W Maziak

..Waterpipe smoking is becoming a global public health problem, especially in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR)...

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..2% and 29.4% respectively, compared to 10.5% and 22.6% among 10th and 12th year high school students respectively. This study shows a late onset initiation of regular forms of smoking compared to patterns seen in developed countries...

..However, this so called hygiene hypothesis fails to answer some important questions about the current trends in asthma or to account for environmental influences that bear little relation to infection...

..Our data show that physical abuse is prevalent in this population and that women's education is the most important modifiable factor...

..Better-educated women tended to have their own motives based on a more complete awareness of the smoking problem. Tobacco control efforts should aim at replacing the passive barrier of traditions with a well-informed positive one...

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..To assess the beliefs and attitudes related to narghile (waterpipe) smoking that are likely to contribute to its increased popularity among young people in Syria...

..No study to date in Syria has documented the smoking and quitting characteristics in a representative sample of university students, and this study aims to fill this void...

..Narghile (waterpipe) smoking is increasing in all Arab societies, but little is known about its pattern of use...

..To evaluate factors related to level of narghile (waterpipe) use as a first step towards modeling tobacco dependence among narghile users...

..There is a dearth of standardized studies examining exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and its relationship to respiratory health among adults in developing countries...

..This information is of major importance for public health efforts to deal with the smoking epidemic in Syria, as it indicates a hidden epidemic of smoking among women, most likely due to under-reporting...

..Surveillance and research into factors affecting use and cessation of this tobacco use method should pave the way for the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies to curb the burgeoning waterpipe use epidemic...

..This study aims to provide first population-based estimates of major injuries in Syria and characterize groups at increased risk...

..To assess exposure to ETS among nonsmokers in the community and examine the relation between various subjective and objective measures of exposure to ETS in a developing country's setting...

..To establish an accurate estimate of the prevalence of smoking among high school students in Aleppo-Syria and to characterize the smoking habit in this age group...

..Smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke seem among the major exposures facing these populations...

..Research conducted in the SCTS to date has provided a fertile training ground for Syrian researchers, as well as for the building of regional collaborations...

..Most of the anti-inflammatory drugs used were SCG, which may indicate under-treatment with inhaled steroids...

..To determine the spread and sociodemographic correlates of smoking among low-income women in Aleppo, Syria...

..The effect of allergy-related change in behavior and the results observed concerning the ownership of pets at different ages underline the need of establishing a precise temporal relationship between disease and exposure...

..CONCLUSIONS: More scientific documentation and careful analysis is required before the spread of waterpipe use and its health effects can be understood, and empirically guided treatment and public policy strategies can be implemented...

..CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that symptoms of asthma, rhinitis, and eczema are increasing, reflecting a change in the morbidity of these conditions in our population...

..As the monitoring of waterpipe smoking is in its infancy, the development of consensus measures should facilitate the initiation of effective surveillance that can guide public health response to this emerging epidemic...

..Throughout the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR), tobacco is used primarily in two forms: cigarette smoking and waterpipe (called narghile (nar-GIL-eh) in Syria) smoking...

..It calls for the importance of establishing a reliable cancer registry in Syria...

..The city of Augsburg and two adjacent counties, covering a population of 532,987...

..This paper describes one approach to the development of such an infrastructure that is currently underway in the Middle East...

..This Study aims to investigate and compare determinants of SRH in adult men and women in Aleppo, Syria...

..The evidence collected indicates possible avenues for tobacco control in Syria, including price increases, smoking cessation programmes, restriction of adolescents' access to cigarettes, and intensive prevention work among women...

..Understanding the dynamics of smoking in different populations is important to be able to tackle this problem rationally...

..Our data show that mental distress is common in the studied population and that it is strongly associated with few, possibly modifiable, factors...

..Further efforts to improve the diagnosis and treatment of childhood asthma are needed. These should aim to increase awareness of the chronic nature of asthma and the need for treatment according to current guidelines...

..Understanding patterns and trends of smoking among youths is of major importance for the assessment of the burden of smoking in the society and efforts to decrease it...

..Our data provide support for the hypothesis that residential exposure to truck traffic may adversely affect the health of children...

..To determine the feasibility of implementing cessation interventions in Syria...

..Exposure to tobacco smoke comes out as the major modifiable risk factor related to asthma morbidity in children...

..While the results of these efforts continue to unfold, an evolutionary insight might help direct our research agenda and broaden our comprehension of the exposure-disease relationship...

..Ignoring those changes can lead to false-positive risk estimates. Prospective studies that allow to disentangle the temporal sequence of disease, exposure, and change of bedding should help to further clarify this issue...

..Waterpipe tobacco smoking is reported to be growing in popularity, particularly among college students. This study examined the prevalence of waterpipe tobacco smoking prevalence and perceptions in a university-based population...

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..These results are from small convenience samples; more detailed study of a larger group of randomly sampled U.S. waterpipe tobacco smokers will be valuable in understanding this behavior and developing effective strategies to prevent it...

..Educational efforts are needed to increase awareness of the potential hazards of this increasingly popular form of tobacco use...

..This study aims to provide the first population-based estimates of CVD morbidity and mortality among adults in Aleppo, Syria and the distribution of their risk factors...

..Waterpipe use needs to be considered in developing effective tobacco use cessation programs in the Middle East...

..5: 33-190 microg/m3; PM10: 42-220 microg/m3). Policymakers considering clean air regulations should include waterpipe tobacco smoking, and the public should be warned about this source of smoke exposure...