Background—The khat plant is a stimulant similar to amphetamine and is thought to induce coronary artery spasm. Khat is widely chewed by individuals originating from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcome of khat chewers presenting with acute coronary syndrome. Methods and Results—From October 1, 2008, through...

BACKGROUND Khat chewing is highly prevalent in Africa, Yemen and Jazan region, southwest of Saudi Arabia. Most of Jazani Khat chewers consider khat session as a social activity and do not consider khat dependency. The aim of this study was to explore khat dependency and its relationship with the psychophysical symptoms among chewers. METHODS Cross-sectional study on seventy Saudi male khat ch...

AbstractBackground: Saliva is a biological fluid that has multiple protective functions. These functions can beattained only if the saliva keeps certain physo-chemical properties such as pH.Methods: The main purpose of the current study was to compare the salivary pH among khat chewers and<b...

BACKGROUND The khat plant is a stimulant similar to amphetamine and is thought to induce coronary artery spasm. Khat is widely chewed by individuals originating from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcome of khat chewers presenting with acute coronary syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS From October 1, 2008, throu...

BACKGROUND Khat has amphetamine like effect. Students chew khat to stay alert. It has various negative physical, mental, social and cognitive effects. Poor academic performance has been associated with khat. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and identify factors associated with khat chewing among Ethiopian University students. METHODS A cross sectional study was conduc...

Background: Khat is a large green shrub grown in Eastern to Southern Africa and extends to Arabian Peninsula. Khat has its own impact on mental and physical health of the chewers. Studies revealed that khat chewing was associated with frequent absenteeism from class and poor academic performance among students. Although khat has harmful consequences, little is known about factors associated wit...

In East-African and Arab countries, khat leaves are traditionally chewed in social settings. They contain the amphetamine-like alkaloid cathinone. Especially among Somali refugees, khat use has been associated with psychiatric symptoms. We assessed khat-use patterns and psychiatric symptoms among male Somali refugees living in a disadvantaged urban settlement area in Kenya, a large group that h...

Khat chewing is associated with unfavourable health outcomes and family dysfunction. Few studies have addressed the factors associated with khat chewing among Yemeni women. However, the family and husband effects on chewing khat by women have not been addressed. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of khat chewing among Yemeni women and its associated factors, particularly husbands and ...

BACKGROUND Catha edulis Forsk. (Khat) is used for its psychoactive effects among people in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, although its utilization is illegal in some countries such as Saudi Arabia. This study examined the pattern of Khat use and assessed the applicability of the Drug Abuse Screening Test-10 (DAST-10) to measure Khat dependence. METHODS A pretested questionnaire was used to...

A Further research required to determine link between khat consumption and driver impairment We read with interest the recent paper by Eckersley et al. on khat use and driver impairment in Ethiopia. 1 The paper highlighted the increasing concern about the association between khat use and traffic accidents with drivers using khat to stay awake and alert. However, much of the information provided...