Yang Yong, Ward Kenneth D, Salloum Ramzi G, Lindblom Eric N
Division of Social and Behavioral Science, School of Public Health, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN.
Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Tob Regul Sci. 2020 May;6(3):171-178. doi: 10.18001/trs.6.3.1.
Waterpipe tobacco smoking (WTS) is an emerging public health crisis, particularly among youth and young adults. Different from the use of other tobacco products and e-cigarettes, WTS tends to be a social activity occurring among friends or persons associated with social networks. In this paper, we review a potential strategy for WTS-related research.
As a bottom-up computational model, agent-based modeling (ABM) can simulate the actions and interactions of agents, as well as the dynamic interactions between agents and their environments, to gain an understanding of the functioning of a system. ABM is particularly useful for incorporating the influence of social networks in WTS, and capturing people's space-time activity and the spatial distribution of WTS venues.
Comprehensive knowledge of WTS-related behaviors at the individual level is needed to take advantage of ABM and use it to examine policies such as the interaction between WTS and cigarette smoking and the effect of flavors used in waterpipe tobacco. Longitudinal and WTS-specific surveys and laboratory experiments are particularly helpful to understand WTS basic mechanisms and elicit individual preferences, respectively.
We argue that the uniqueness of WTS makes ABM a promising tool to be used in WTS-related research, as well as understanding use of other tobacco products.
水烟吸食是一个新出现的公共卫生危机，在青少年和青年中尤为突出。与其他烟草制品和电子烟的使用不同，水烟吸食往往是一种发生在朋友之间或与社交网络有关联的人之间的社交活动。在本文中，我们综述了一种与水烟吸食相关研究的潜在策略。
作为一种自下而上的计算模型，基于主体的建模（ABM）可以模拟主体的行动和互动，以及主体与其环境之间的动态交互，以了解一个系统的运行情况。ABM对于纳入社交网络在水烟吸食中的影响，以及捕捉人们的时空活动和水烟吸食场所的空间分布特别有用。
要利用ABM并将其用于研究诸如水烟吸食与吸烟之间的相互作用以及水烟中使用的香料的影响等政策，就需要全面了解个体层面与水烟吸食相关的行为。纵向调查和针对水烟吸食的特定调查以及实验室实验，分别对于了解水烟吸食的基本机制和引出个体偏好特别有帮助。
我们认为，水烟吸食的独特性使得ABM成为一种有前景的工具，可用于与水烟吸食相关的研究以及了解其他烟草制品的使用情况。
