Prevalence of Psychological Khat Dependency and It’s Associated Factors Among Mettu University Students, Southwest Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract Introduction: It is estimated that 5 to 10 million people worldwide chew Khat, the majority of whom live in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen. Chewing khat is a part of life for a vast majority of the people in these countries. Excessive and long-term khat use has the potential to cause psychological dependency with a prominent feature akin to amphetamine-type stimulant dependence. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of psychological khat addiction and the factors that contribute to it among Mettu University students. Methods: institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 01/2021 – April 29/,2021at Mettu University. The study sample was recruited through Stratified multistage sampling technique (n = 1046). Structured English version self-administered questionnaire were used to collect data on socio-demographic factors, habit of khat use and other variables. The data were edited, cleaned, coded and entered in to Epi-data version 4.6.02 then it was exported to Stata/SE 14.0. Binary and multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify sociodemographic factors and other substance-use related factors that are associated with psychological khat dependency. Results were interpreted and presented in the form of table, figures & chart. Result: Among the original 1046 participants 1001 of them were clearly fill and respond the questionnaire but only157 of current khat chewer were included in the analysis process since the target of the study was to study dependency on khat. The results of the other 1001 respondents were simply reported descriptively through table and diagram. Among 157 current khat chewers 47.7% (95% CI: 39.9–55.6) of them were found dependent on khat based on SDS score whether the left 52.23% respondents were not khat dependent. Among those found dependent the amount of khat chewed each session (AOR; =6.72, 95% CI’ =2.17–20.78), duration of chewing khat in each session (AOR; =4.2, 95% CI; =1.43–12.73), days chewing khat per week (AOR; =4.2, 95% CI; =1.39–12.96), depression (AOR; =4.08, 95% CI; =1.40–11.9), cigarrete smoking (AOR; =3.5, 95% CI; =1.0032–12.37), poor social support (AOR; =4.4, 95% CI; =1.34–14.43) and 4th year and above (AOR; =3.65, 95% CI; =1.07–12.49) were show significance association with khat dependency both in bivariate and multivariate analysis. Conclusion: khat chewing has a psychological dependence effect on those who use khat for prolonged time, chewing large amount of khat and those who chew khat frequently, Therefore, it calls for a strong multi sectorial involvement including local administrative bodies, health services providers, and non-governmental organizations.