No abstract

Background Ethiopia is a leading khat producer in East Africa, and almost all regions are involved in khat production. Hossana, a small town in Southern Ethiopia, is also actively involved in khat production and its use. However, very few studies have been conducted to investigate the habit of khat chewing in this area. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence and predictors of khat chewing among Hossana residents. Methods The study was conducted on 1700 individuals in Hossana town from March 2018 to June 2019. A structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was designed and used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were carried out to study the prevalence and predictors of khat chewing in the study area. Results The overall prevalence of khat chewing among the respondents was 58.0% (95% CI 53.4–63.3) of which 68.4% were daily khat users and 31.5% used it occasionally. About 24.7% of females and 75.2% of males had chewed khat. Muslim religion (AOR 2.37; 95% CI 1.58–4.32), male gender (AOR 3.48; 95% CI 2.16–5.61), Older age (AOR 1.36; 95% CI 0.84–2.21), participants having habitual khat chewing friends or a khat chewer family associate (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.17–2.20) were found to be independent predictors of chewing. Conclusion Significant portion of the population in the study area chew khat. Khat use is significantly associated with the Muslim religion, gender, age, and habit of family and friends. Further studies with larger demographic area are warranted from the study area to reproduce these findings.

Background A majority of non-invasive prenatal screening studies determining fetal RhD status have been tested on Caucasian and Asian populations, but limited or no studies have been conducted on the Ethiopian population. In the current study, we carried non-invasive prenatal screening of fetal RHD genotype in selected RhD negative Ethiopian pregnant women. Methods Cell-free DNA was extracted from the plasma samples of 117 RhD pregnant women between 9 and 38 weeks of gestation. Fetal RHD genotypes were detected by targeting exons 5, 7 and 10 of the RHD gene by using real-time PCR assay. RHD genotypic results were confirmed by neonatal cord blood serology. Results Fetal RHD genotyping was conclusive in all 117 subjects. RHD genotype was correctly predicted in 115 of 117 cases, thus the test yielded 98.3% accuracy (95%CI: 97.3–99.1%). Among 115 cases, 105 were genotyped as RHD positive and 12 were genotyped as RHD negative. The sensitivity and specificity of the test were 99.1% (95% CI: 94.8–99.9%) and 91.7% (95%CI: 61.5–99.7%) respectively. The negative and positive predictive values were 99.9% (95%CI: 99.2–99.9%) and 54.0% (95% CI: 15.2–88.4%) respectively. SRY genotyping results were in complete concordance with fetal sex. Conclusion Multi exon targeted non-invasive prenatal screening test for fetal RhD determination exhibited high accuracy and sensitivity. A confirmatory study with a bigger size of study subjects is warranted before enabling clinical implementation.