Marium Sarfaraz, Anwar Ali1, Talat Mirza.
Prevalence and Characteristics of Areca Nut Chewing Habit among School Going Children in Karachi.
J Dow Uni Health Sci Jan ;8(3):111-6.

Introduction: Areca nut is the fruit of areca catechu palm tree. It is forth most common psychoactive substance used worldwide. Mostly the areca nut chewing habit is prevalent in South Asian countries. Areca nut is used in betel quid or as processed areca nut products. Areca nut is classified as class I carcinogen by IARC. The higher incidence of oral cancer in Pakistan is mostly attributed to the use of areca nut products. In Pakistan studies on prevalence of areca nut chewing habit among children were conducted in highly selected and high risk population. Therefore, there was a need to register the actual prevalence of areca nut chewing habit among the general population of school going children in Karachi. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of areca nut chewing habit and different characteristics of regular and occasional areca nut chewers among school going children in Karachi. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted in government and private schools of nine towns selected from total eighteen towns of Karachi from January 2010 to June 2012. A stratified cluster random sampling was used to select study sample, representative of all school going children in Karachi. After taking consent a pre tested questionnaire was used to take history of areca nut chewing habit and to record the characteristics of chewers. Results: A total of 3,107, aged 7-16 years (50.7% female and 49.3% male students) were interviewed and examined. Majority of sample 60.2% were drawn from private schools and 39.8% from government schools. Result showed that 40.8% children chewed areca nut regularly, 39% occasionally and 20.2% rarely. The regular areca nut chewing habit was found mostly among male gender, government school and students of low socioeconomic status. The prevalence of tobacco containing areca nut products use 0.9% was low among children. Conclusion: The prevalence of areca nut chewing habit among school going children in Karachi was found high (40.8%). The regular areca nut chewing habit was found to be related with addiction potential of areca nut, use of tobacco containing areca nut products and low socioeconomic status of students.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com