Electronic Journal of Biology

Logistic Regression Models to Predict Factors Associated with Khat Abuse among Students in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia

Khat abuse is associated with many public health problems. Logistic regression analysis is an important tool used in the analysis of the relationship between various explanatory variables and nominal response variables. The objective of this study was to use this statistical method to determine the factors which are considered to be significant contributors to the use or abuse of khat among students at both levels schools and university of Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. The logistic regression models were used to build models for predicting the most important factors associated with khat abuse among study participants. A total number of 7696 students responded to the survey, of which 56.9% were males and 43.1% females. The study results revealed the significant impact of important predictors of Khat chewing in our sample were students’ smoking status (OR=13.597, P value=0.000), gender (OR=5.283, P value=0.000), friends’ using tobacco (OR=3.844, P value=0.000) and friends’ using Khat (OR=1.368, P value=0.000). These results emphasize the importance of peer education interventions as one strategy for changing social norms in the studied population.

Author(s):

Mohamed Salih Mahfouz

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