Ultrasound Findings of Urinary Bladder in Khat Chewer Yemeni Higher Education Students

Abstract

Khat (pronounced "cot") is a natural stimulant from the Catha Edulis plant is cultivated in the Republic of Yemen and certain areas of East Africa. Khat produces a modest degree of euphoria and slight hypomania. It results in insomnia and appears to improve the users' alertness and concentration. That is why some students use it and believe that it enhances their memorization and preparations before examinations. The main objective of this study was to determine ultrasound findings of urinary bladder in khat chewer Yemeni higher education students. 50 khat chewer student volunteers from higher education level were selected randomly serving as cases, and 20 non-khat chewer student volunteers from university level serving as control. All of them were taken ultrasound urinary bladder scan. This study revealed high frequency of students who chewed khat was from Dhamar governorate and that may due to prevalence of khat agriculture in this governorate. The study showed broad distribution of cases according to the post voiding residual urine and that reflected the normal variation which were stated in previous study, however this distribution was in the normal range of post voiding residual urine volume (less than 50ml) according to consensus recommendations from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), which were published in 1992. This study also revealed normal distribution of cases according the urinary bladder wall thickness which was in normal range(less than 3mm) using known standards of ultrasound imaging measurements except one case which showed thickened wall of urinary bladder which represents 2% of cases.