Toxic effect of khat (Catha edulis) on memory: Systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Journal of neurosciences in rural practice Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 30 - 37
• Main Authors: Berihu, Birhane, Asfeha, Gebrekidan, Welderufael, Abadi, Debeb, Yared, Zelelow, Yibrah, Beyene, Hafte
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01-01-2017; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Thieme Medical Publishers Inc; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Care and treatment; Health aspects; Memory disorders; Meta-analysis; Original; Qat; Rodents; Short term; Studies; Systematic review; United States; Africa; khat; Catha edulis; reference memory; Qat; working memory; short-term memory; long-term memory
• ISSN: 0976-3147; 0976-3155
• DOI: 10.4103/0976-3147.193524

Background: People use khat (Catha edulis) for its pleasant stimulant effect of physical activity, consciousness, motor, and mental functions. Although there are reports assessing the effect of khat on memory, there was no study based on formal systematic review and meta-analysis. Objective: We have therefore conducted this meta-analysis to determine the level of evidence for the effect of khat (C. edulis Forsk) on memory discrepancy. Methods: MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Academic Search Complete, SPORTDiscus, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched to retrieve the papers for this review. Keywords utilized across database search were khat, cat, chat, long-term memory, short-term memory, memory deficit, randomized control trial, and cross-sectional survey. The search was limited to studies in humans and rodents; published in English language. Result: Finding of various studies included in our meta-analysis showed that the effect of acute, and subchronic exposure to khat showed that short-term memory appears to be affected depending on the duration of exposure. However, does not have any effect on long-term memory. Conclusion: Although a number of studies regarding the current topic are limited, the evidenced showed that khat (C. edulis) induced memory discrepancy.