The use of water pipe and its impact on university students' lifestyle and their psychological distress: a cross-sectional study

Background: In Spain, water pipe is a common device for substance abuse. It is the second most widespread way of cannabis abuse (11.9%) between young people from 14 to 23 years old. This use has become a public health problem, because of an intensive consumption in young people is considered as a predictor of excessive consumption in adulthood, and it causes health problems and increases the health costs. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between water pipe use, lifestyle (diet, physical activity and sleep) and psychological distress, also considering unexpected effects, in university students. Methods: An observational and cross-sectional study was carried out, on a sample of 825 students from the University of Huelva, selected by random sampling stratified by conglomerates. The instruments used were extracted from a larger study called "Health Behavior in University". SPSS 26.0 software was used for statistical analysis and statistical analysis was performed on the data collected. Results: The use of water pipe was associated with less adherence to the Mediterranean diet (t=1.64; p=0.04; d=0.12), a lower number of hours of sleep during weekends (t=2.12; p =0.03; d=0.14) and with intense physical activity (t=-1.80; p=0.07; d=0.13). On the contrary, it was not associated with psychological distress. Conclusions: The use of water pipe seems to be inversely related to some aspects of a lifestyle that could be associated with long-term metabolic and respiratory diseases.