ABSTRACT
This study compared and contrasted personal characteristics, tobacco use (cigarette and water pipe smoking), and health states in Chaldean, Arab American and non-Middle Eastern White adults attending an urban community service center. The average age was 39.4 (SD = 14.2). The three groups differed significantly (P < .006) on ethnicity, age, gender distribution, marital status, language spoken, education, employment, and annual income. Current cigarette smoking was highest for non-Middle Eastern White adults (35.4%) and current water pipe smoking was highest for Arab Americans (3.6%). Arab Americans were more likely to smoke both cigarettes and the narghile (4.3%). Health problems were highest among former smokers in all three ethnic groups. Being male, older, unmarried, and non-Middle Eastern White predicted current cigarette smoking; being Arab or Chaldean and having less formal education predicted current water pipe use.
Subject(s)
Christianity , Islam , Racial Groups , Tobacco Use Disorder/ethnology , Adult , Age Factors , Female , Health Behavior , Health Status , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Middle East/ethnology , Sex Factors , Socioeconomic Factors , United States/epidemiologyABSTRACT
There is no previous report from Jordan on dental health in preschool children. In the present study, carried out from November 1988 to January 1989, 255 Jordanian children aged 6 months to 6 years and living in a suburb of Amman were examined for dental caries and related factors. The disease was clinically visible in the second year of life. In the age group 3-6 years 72% had acquired caries, most of them severe. Boys and girls were affected similarly. The prevalence of caries was independent of social background factors. The reason for the high prevalence was probably early and uncontrolled intake of sweets combined with absence of dental cleaning. The authors pose that dental caries is becoming a major health problem among suburban Jordanian children and propose that this preventable disease should be tackled a the child health centers through teaching programmes directed to parents, commencing when the child is under one year of age.
