Experts warn against unhealthy trend More and more students are smoking hookah

Dangerous hookahs: One-fifth of the students smoke shisha

Arab hookahs are trendy. More and more students are smoking shisha. The associated health risks are often underestimated. And this despite the fact that every year many people have to be treated in the hospital after consuming oriental pipes.

Carbon monoxide poisoning by hookah smoke

For years, experts have pointed to an increased health risk through hookahs. Especially dangerous is the smoke for shisha bar visitors. Because there the carbon monoxide levels are often alarmingly high. This also showed a message from the Düsseldorf University Hospital. The physicians reported a few weeks ago, that in the past year to November already about 100 cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in the special pressure chamber of the hospital were treated - "about 40 of them are due to the smoking of hookahs," the experts said.

According to a survey, about one-fifth of the students smokes shisha. The health hazards of hookah smoke are often underestimated. (Image: Roman Ribaliov / fotolia.com)

Odorless gas endangers the health

Carbon monoxide can block the transport of oxygen in the blood. With a poisoning it comes to complaints such as headache, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea and unconsciousness up to the death by suffocation.

The treachery of hookah smoking is that the early signs of poisoning are mostly attributed to tobacco.

Since the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning in closed rooms increases significantly, the risk should rise according to the Federal Center for Health Education (BZgA) in the cold season.

In order to get a better grip on the problem, doctors have demanded carbon monoxide detectors for hookah bars.

"Against the background of an increasing number of carbon monoxide poisonings in shisha bars and apartments with gas thermal baths, the medical profession in the Rhineland has called on the state government to make the installation of CO detectors mandatory in these buildings," writes the Ärztekammer Nordrhein in a message.

Every fifth student smokes water pipe

As the DAK reports, more children and adolescents in Germany have experience with hookahs than previously known.

Of the pupils in grades five to ten, 22 percent have already smoked tobacco from a shisha. Six percent consume regularly, at least once a month.

In grade ten, just under half of all students (47 percent) have had shisha experience. This emerges from the DAK prevention radar 2017, for which nearly 7,000 students from more than 400 classes were interviewed.

The survey showed that the proportion of regular shisha consumers increased significantly from grade seven onwards: it increased fivefold within three school years.

While in class seven, only two percent of students smoke a shisha at least once a month, in grade nine they are already ten percent. In grade ten, almost every second has hookah experience.

One reason: Sweet-fruity flavors, which are added to the tobacco, make shishas look harmless.

Dangerous temptation for teens

"Hookahs are a dangerous temptation for young people," commented Andreas Storm, CEO of DAK Health, the results. "Many students are unaware of how harmful shisha smoking is."

In contrast to the cigarette, the tobacco is not burned directly in the hookah, but is siphoned off at low temperatures. To heat the tobacco, hookah coal is used. The burning of coal produces significant amounts of carbon monoxide.

Experts believe that hookahs are hardly less harmful than cigarettes: According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), smoking shark smoking and long-term smoking can worsen lung function and increase the risk of cancer. The cardiovascular system and oral health suffer. (Ad)