Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23958628›Full record

ReviewHealth policy and planning2014

Tobacco in the Arab world: old and new epidemics amidst policy paralysis.

Wasim Maziak, Rima Nakkash, Raed Bahelah, Abdullatif Husseini, Nadia Fanous, Thomas Eissenberg

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Health policy and planning, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
102citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

102 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Plain Packaging: One of the Plain Simple Solutions for Nicotine Reduction in the Middle East.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
    Review
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
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  11. Article
  12. Article
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  15. Review
  16. Unsubstantiated Claims by the Hookah Tobacco Industry to Exempt Flavored Hookah Tobacco Products From Flavor Bans.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2025
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Wasim MaziakDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA wmaziak@fiu.edu.
Rima NakkashDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA.
Raed BahelahDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA.
Abdullatif HusseiniDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA.
Nadia FanousDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA.
Thomas EissenbergDepartment of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8 St, Miami, 33199 FL, USA, Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Sheehan St, Aleppo, Syria, Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Riad El Solh St, 1107 2020 Beirut, Lebanon, Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Aden, Aden, Yemen, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit University, PO Box 14 Birzeit, Occupied Palestinian Territory and Department of Psychology and Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1112 East Clay St, Richmond, 23298 VA, USA.

Funding

Responding to the changing tobacco epidemic in the Eastern Mediterranean RegionR01DA024876 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS · PI MAZIAK, WASIM · 2007 to 2011
$1.6M
Advancing addiction research and capacity to guide tobacco control in the EasternR01DA035160 · NIDA · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · PI MAZIAK, WASIM · 2012 to 2017
$1.5M
NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA024876NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA035160
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The Arab world is comprised of 22 countries with a combined population of ∼360 million. The region is still at the initial stages of the tobacco epidemic, where it is expected to witness an increase in smoking levels and mounting tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in the future. Still, the bleak outlook of the tobacco epidemic in the Arab world continues to be faced with complacency in the form of underutilization of surveillance systems to monitor the tobacco epidemic and prioritize action, and failure to implement and enforce effective policies to curb the tobacco epidemic. Understandably, the focus on the Arab world carries the risk of trying to generalize to such a diverse group of countries at different level of economic and political development. Yet, tobacco control in the Arab world faces some shared patterns and common challenges that need to be addressed to advance its cause in this region. In addition, forces that promote tobacco use, such as the tobacco industry, and trends in tobacco use, such as the emerging waterpipe epidemic tend to coalesce around some shared cultural and socio-political features of this region. Generally, available data from Arab countries point at three major trends in the tobacco epidemic: (1) high prevalence of cigarette smoking among Arab men compared with women; (2) the re-emergence of waterpipe (also known as hookah, narghile, shisha, arghile) smoking as a major tobacco use method, especially among youth and (3) the failure of policy to provide an adequate response to the tobacco epidemic. In this review, we will discuss these trends, factors contributing to them, and the way forward for tobacco control in this unstable region.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAfrica, NorthernArab WorldFemaleGlobal HealthHumansMaleMiddle EastPrevalencePublic HealthPublic PolicySex DistributionSmokingTobacco IndustryYoung AdultArab worldhookahpolicytobacco industrywaterpipe

Identifiers

PMID23958628
PMCPMC4153301

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.