ArticleCanadian journal of gastroenterology & hepatology2018
High Seroprevalence of Autoantibodies Typical of Autoimmune Liver Disease in Eastern Ethiopia: Is Chewing of Khat (Catha edulis) a Triggering Factor?
Article in Canadian journal of gastroenterology & hepatology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Retrospective, single-center analysis of autoimmune hepatitis in Yemeni adults: clinical features, treatment, and outcomes.BMC immunology · 2026Article
- Khat-associated Autoimmune Hepatitis: A Review with RUCAM Analysis.Journal of clinical and translational hepatology · 2025Review
- Hepatitis Associated withJournal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Recent studies have identified chewing of khat ( Methods: Consenting adults (≥18 years) without known autoimmune disease or manifest liver disease were included. One-hundred-and-sixty-nine individuals with current khat use were compared to 104 individuals who never used khat. Seroprevalence of antinuclear (ANA), antismooth muscle (SMA), and antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) were determined and compared between the groups using logistic regression models to adjust for age and sex. Results: Overall, 2.6% of the study subjects were positive for ANA, 15.4% for SMA, and 25.6% for AMA. When comparing khat users to nonusers, ANA was detected in 4.1% vs. 0% (p=0.047), SMA in 16.0% vs. 14.4% (p=0.730), and AMA in 24.9% vs. 26.9% (p=0.704). ANA was excluded from multivariable analysis since there was no seropositive in the reference group. After adjusting for sex and age, no significant association between khat use and SMA or AMA was found. Conclusions: No association between khat usage and the seropresence of SMA or AMA was found, weakening the hypothesis that khat-related liver injury is mediated through autoimmune mechanisms. However, the seroprevalences of AMA and SMA were strikingly high in this Ethiopian population compared to global estimates, suggesting that diagnostic algorithms for autoimmune liver diseases developed in Europe and North America might lead to misdiagnosis of patients on the African continent.
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