Assessment of Qat Consumption on Blood parameters in Yemeni Individuals in Sana’a City – Yemen

Abstract

This work was a cross sectional hospital based study aimed to determine the effect of Qat chewing on CBC parameters. The subjects were 328 (289 mals and 39 females) Qat chewers selected from adult Yemeni healthy individuals attending the blood bank in Police Hospital in Sanaa, with an age between 18-65 years. After obtaining informed consent from each participant, 5 ml of venous blood was collected into an EDTA container then Hb, PCV, RBC, WBC, Plts, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW and WBC differential count were measured using blood auto analyzer. The results showed that the means of Hb, PCV, RBC, WBC, Plts, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes and eosinophils were 15.63 gm/dl, 47.02%, 5.40×106cell/cmm, 6.40×103cell/cmm, 289.32 mm3, 84.61 fl, 28.61 pg ,32.83 g/dl, 14.32%, 49.93%, 38.83%, 6.70%, 4.28%, respectively. In regard to control, these results indicated that platelets count was significantly reduced (p? 0.05) while other CBC components were not affected by Qat chewing (p? 0.05). The results also showed that, the effect of Qat hat on CBC parameters in this study was not associated with duration of Qat chewing, the dose of Qat consumed or gender of the subject. Based on the results, this study concluded that, Qat consumption may predispose thrombocytopenia.