Predictors of hookah smoking frequency among women in the South of Iran: A cross-sectional study.

The prevalence of hookah smoking has grown over the past decades in Iran especially in the south of the country. This study aimed to determine the behavioral and socio-demographic predictors of the hookah smoking frequency among women in southern Iran. This research was conducted on 400 women hookah smokers selected through multi-stage sampling method. Data were collected from October 2018 to September 2019 using a questionnaire guided by literature. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was run to determine the influential behavioral and socio-demographic predictors involved in the frequency of hookah smoking. Variables with a P-value of less than 0.05 in the final fitting model were associated with the outcome variable (frequency of hookah smoking per day1 = once a day, 2 = twice a day, 3 = three times a day, 4 = more than three times a day). We found that the longer duration of hookah smoking, family usage of hookah smoking, beginning to smoke hookah with peers, absence of either parent in family (single-parent families and a lack of prior intention to cease smoking), ever-married women and low socio-economic status (SES) predicted the frequency of hookah smoking. To prevent the behavior and make effective interventions to reduce hookah smoking, policy-makers should stay focused on factors other than internal motivations. Focus on the companies surrounding women smokers, quitting the habit of hookah smoking and effective interventions to decrease one's intention to smoke hookah can help reduce such unhealthy behaviors.