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


RESULTS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
Although a number of studies regarding the current topic are limited, the evidenced showed that khat (C. edulis) induced memory discrepancy.
Department of Anatomy and Histology, Institute of Bio-Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Birhane Alem
BA
Berihu
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute of Bio-Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Gebrekidan Gebregzabher
GG
Asfeha
Department of Pediatrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Abadi Leul
AL
Welderufael
Department of Physiology, Institute of Bio-Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Yared Godefa
YG
Debeb
Department of Pediatrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Yibrah Berhe
YB
Zelelow
Department of Anatomy and Histology, Institute of Bio-Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Hafte Assefa
HA
Beyene
Catha edulis; Qat; khat; long-term memory; reference memory; short-term memory; working memory