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The prevalence and socio‐demographic correlates of khat chewing in Butajira, Ethiopia
Author(s) -
Alem A.,
Kebede D.,
Kullgren G.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb10699.x
Subject(s) - khat , medicine , demography , population , traditional medicine , gerontology , environmental health , psychiatry , sociology
A house‐to‐house survey was carried out in a rural Ethiopian community to determine the prevalence and socio‐demographic correlates of khat use. A total of 10 468 adults were interviewed. Of these, 58% were female, and 740/0 were Muslim. More than half of the study population (55.7%) reported lifetime khat chewing experience and the prevalence of current use was 50%. Among current chewers, 17.40/0 reported taking khat on a daily basis; 16.1% of these were male and 3.4% were female. Various reasons were given for chewing khat; 80% of the chewers used it to gain a good level of concentration for prayer. Muslim religion, smoking and high educational level showed strong association with daily khat chewing.