HHS HealthBeat (September 11, 2012)

Trying hookah

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

The first year of college is all about trying new things, but some of them are not good. Researchers say many freshman women experiment with the hookah – the water pipe that cools the tobacco smoke, and which has become popular with some people on campus.

At the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, researcher Robyn Fielder looked at survey data on 343 first-years who were followed for a year and who had not used a hookah at the start:

“Twenty-three percent of the women with no previous hookah experience ended up trying hookah for the first time during their first year of college.”

Tobacco in a water pipe is still tobacco, though, so it can still sicken and kill.

The study in the Journal of Addictive Behaviors was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September 11, 2012