Life Time Prevalence of Khat Chewing
Of the total sample of 27289 of men and women 15-49 years at the time of survey, 18.3% (n = 5006) have life time prevalence of chat chewing which is comparable to previous studies 13.4% to 41%,17.5% ,17.9% , 18.3% respectively [7,9,19,20] and higher compared to 15.3%, 16%.,15.36% , 14% 7.5%, 15.8%, 15.3%, 9.6% respectively [12,21-27].and lower compared to 46%., 23.0%, 19%, 19.9 % , 48.6%., 50% ,30.6%, 19.6%, 24.7%, 74.55%, 22.3% , 23.61% , 29.6% , 27.14%, 37.1%, 65.6% respectively (8,24,25,28,29,30-34,36-41) and Study by(35) is also higher compared to this finding
Furthermore, the possible explanations for the observed differences in khat chewing could be due to differences in sample characteristics, in the definitions used by studies. In our study life time prevalence of Khat use was measured by asking whether they ever chew chat in their previous life and others used define Khat use as “using of Khat for the previous one year or one month” and methodological differences.
Socio demographic factors associated with life time prevalence of khat chewing
In our study the life time prevalence of khat chewing was not statistically significantly higher in males compared with females similar to findings from 2015 national Non-communicable diseases STEPS survey (25).
According to our findings life time prevalence of khat chewing in the general population of Ethiopia was 26.7 % among men and 12.1 % among women of 15–49 years which is similar with EDHS 2011 27.3% among men and 11.0% among women of 15–49 years [26.].
In our study age and area of residence significantly associated with khat chewing contrarily with study in Southwestern Saudi Arabia (41)
In this study an increase in one-year in age has 9.952 (AOR9.952 95% CI 6.156- 16.091) times decrease in odds of chat chewing which is similar to previous studies (8-9, 21, 27,38,41-43).
This study is contrarily with previous studies [12, 48, 21, 39)
Many factors increase the risk of khat chewing during adolescence, including socioeconomic status, neighborhood, cultural context, peer influence, teachers’ influence and perhaps most importantly, family influences (44).
It is reported that social acceptability of khat chewing and socialization of this habit increase the likelihood of adolescents adopting the behaviour in Jazan Region (45). For Yemenis, khat may be less of a drug than a medium for socialization (4).
This fall in the age of initiation of khat chewing indicates the failure of prevention strategies (46).
Teenagers who want to try new things and can be convinced by their friends and may try to chew khat for the purpose of relaxation (28).
This indicates that the more educated groups who represent the most productive sections of the society are affected by the khat chewing habit (8). This showed that the above ages are in the age group called teenage in which those who are in this period want to try everything by themselves and can be exposed to different kinds of substances (9, 43). The most frequent reasons for continuing chewing khat were promoting dialogue and social discussion, making the chewer feel refreshed, more energetic, alert and attentive(41).
Similar claims of positive physiological aspects to khat chewing and strong energizing effect of workers have been reported elsewhere (47).
It implies older individuals may be deciding to wait for not chewing in order to deal with their family cases unlike younger that may be sensitive to do what they observe in their life and khat chew.
In this study residence had significant association with men and women 15-49 years living in urban areas were 34.04 times higher odds of chat chewing (AOR 34.040; 95% CI: 21.028--55.105) compared to men and women 15-49 years who had live in rural areas which is similar to previous studies (25,32,42,49) and contrarily to studies (12, 33).
In this study Higher prevalence in urban observed because from no educated respondents (10701) majority of 54.0% (5779) respondents in urban residence have no education.
According to previous study education is a protective factor for current khat chewing. Participants who are in the no education group are more likely to chew khat than those who are educated (25) Lower educational status was found to be a significant independent predictor of current khat chewing (37).
The study conducted from the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia, which showed that illiterates were at higher odds of chewing khat [50].
The reason could be uneducated men would have a lack of information on the negative consequences of khat on their health [51].
In our study age and residence significantly associated with life time prevalence of khat chewing and this is similar with the previous study that reported khat chewing was associated with age and residence [52].