Physiological and subjective effects associated with nicotine containing hookah smoking

Audience: Health educators, researchers interested in building capacity and networking in the area of hookah tobacco smoking, and policy makers to raise their awareness to this form of tobacco

Key Points:

•  Little is known about hookah smoking behaviors and how these behaviors may lead to later dependent smoking behavior.

 

• This experimental pilot study utilized a within subject design with 4 conditions: two nicotine conditions are placebo (0% nicotine) and nicotine tobacco (15g) and two exposure conditions are low exposure (total smoke volume = 40 liters) and high exposure (total smoke volume = 80 liters). Eligible participants were between 18-30 years old,  infrequent hookah users (<3x/week) and non-cigarette smokers. Twenty-four participants completed four 45 minute smoking sessions followed by 2 follow-up visits. Physiological and subjective data were obtained at  5-, 15-, 30-minutes, and post-smoking and at each of the followup visits.  Physiological measures included salivary cotinine, carbon monoxide levels, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure.   Subjective measures included Visual Analog Scales, Adapted Direct Effects of Smoking, Minnesota Withdrawal Scale-Revised, QSU, and LWDS-11.

Educational Experience: Audience will learn about the physiological and subjective effects of nicotine on smokers and the similarites and difference between conventional nicotine-containing tobacco and herbal tobacco. Also, the audience will learn about withdrawal symptoms self-reported and its association with saliva cotinine levels.

Benefits: To the best of our knowledge, this clinical experimental study is the second of its kind in the US.  It will expand the scientific knowledge hookah smoking behaviors in the young adult population.