Department of Physiology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
Subst Abuse Treat Prev Policy. 2011 Aug 18;6:23. doi: 10.1186/1747-597X-6-23.
Areca nut is the seed of fruit oriental palm known as Areca catechu. Many adverse effects of nut chewing have been well documented in the medical literature. As these nuts are mixed with some other substances like tobacco and flavouring agents, it has been hypothesized that it might also cause some dependency symptoms among its users. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate dependency syndrome among areca nut users with and without tobacco additives and compare it with dependency associated with cigarette smoking among the male Pakistani population.
This was an observational cross sectional study carried out on healthy individuals, who were users of any one of the three products (areca nut only, areca nut with tobacco additives, cigarette smokers). Participants were selected by convenience sampling of people coming to hospital to seek a free oral check up. Information was collected about the socio-demographic profile, pattern of use and symptoms of dependency using the DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence. We carried out multiple logistic regressions to investigate association between socio-demographic profile, pattern of substance use and dependency syndrome.
We carried out final analysis on 851 individuals, of which 36.8% (n = 314) were areca nut users, 28.4% (n = 242) were the chewers of areca with tobacco additives and 34.7% (n = 295) were regular cigarette smokers. Multivariate analyses showed that individuals using areca nut with tobacco additives were significantly more likely to have dependency syndrome (OR = 2.17, 95% CI 1.39-3.40) while cigarette smokers were eight times more likely to have dependency syndrome as compared to areca nut only users.
Areca nut use with and without tobacco additives was significantly associated with dependency syndrome. In comparison to exclusive areca nut users, the smokers were eight times more likely to develop dependence while areca nut users with tobacco additives were also significantly more likely to suffer from the dependence.
槟榔是一种名为槟榔的东方棕榈的果实。许多关于咀嚼槟榔的不良影响在医学文献中都有详细记录。由于这些坚果与一些其他物质如烟草和调味剂混合在一起，因此有人假设它也可能在使用者中引起一些依赖症状。因此，本研究的目的是调查有和没有烟草添加剂的槟榔使用者的依赖综合征，并将其与巴基斯坦男性人口中与吸烟相关的依赖进行比较。
这是一项横断面观察性研究，在健康人群中进行，他们使用的是三种产品之一（仅槟榔、含烟草添加剂的槟榔、香烟吸烟者）。通过方便抽样选择来医院寻求免费口腔检查的人来选择参与者。使用 DSM-IV 物质依赖标准收集关于社会人口统计学特征、使用模式和依赖症状的信息。我们进行了多项逻辑回归分析，以调查社会人口统计学特征、物质使用模式与依赖综合征之间的关联。
我们对 851 人进行了最终分析，其中 36.8%（n=314）是槟榔使用者，28.4%（n=242）是含烟草添加剂的槟榔咀嚼者，34.7%（n=295）是常规吸烟者。多变量分析表明，使用含烟草添加剂的槟榔的个体发生依赖综合征的可能性明显更高（OR=2.17，95%CI 1.39-3.40），而吸烟者发生依赖综合征的可能性是仅使用槟榔的个体的八倍。
含烟草添加剂和不含烟草添加剂的槟榔使用与依赖综合征显著相关。与仅使用槟榔的个体相比，吸烟者发生依赖的可能性高八倍，而使用含烟草添加剂的槟榔的个体也更有可能出现依赖。
