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Khat use among Somali mental health service users in South London

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Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Khat use has been suggested to be associated with psychosis, but its prevalence and associations among mental health service users have not been described in either traditional use countries or countries with immigrant populations from traditional use countries. We aimed to investigate the clinical and demographic associations of khat use in a sample of Somali users of mental health service users in South London.

Methods

We used an electronic case register of 150,000 mental health patients to investigate the associations of khat use among all 240 Somali patients in the database. We used logistic regression to generate adjusted estimates for a range of exposure variables and used multiple imputation as a principled approach to missing data.

Results

Khat use or non-use was recorded for 172 patients (72% of the total), of whom 80 (47%) were current users. Khat use was very strongly associated with ICD-10 primary diagnosis of schizophrenia, psychosis or drug and alcohol disorder (compared to ICD-10 F43 stress-related disorders and other non-psychotic disorders), male gender, harmful or dependent use of alcohol, and detention under the Mental Health Act.

Conclusions

Recording and monitoring of khat use need to be more consistent in clinical settings, and further studies are required to investigate the much higher rates of use among those with psychotic disorders compared to non-psychotic disorders.

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Acknowledgments

TN and AT were funded by the UK Medical Research Council at the time of the research. AT is currently supported by the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for Mental Health at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. The study used NIHR Biomedical Research Centre infrastructure funded by NIHR and the Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital Trustees. AT and TN gratefully acknowledge the support of Professor Anthony David.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK

    Alex D. Tulloch, Elizabeth Frayn, Thomas K. J. Craig & Timothy R. J. Nicholson

Authors
  1. Alex D. Tulloch
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  2. Elizabeth Frayn
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  3. Thomas K. J. Craig
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  4. Timothy R. J. Nicholson
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Correspondence to Alex D. Tulloch.

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Tulloch, A.D., Frayn, E., Craig, T.K.J. et al. Khat use among Somali mental health service users in South London. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 47, 1649–1656 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0471-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-011-0471-8

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