Common risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases among older adults in China, Ghana, Mexico, India, Russia and South Africa: the study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) wave 1

Abstract

BackgroundBehavioral risk factors such as tobacco use, unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity and the harmful use of alcohol are known and modifiable contributors to a number of NCDs and health mediators. The purpose of this paper is to describe the distribution of main risk factors for NCDs by socioeconomic status (SES) among adults aged 50 years and older within a country and compare these risk factors across six lower- and upper-middle income countries.MethodsThe study population in this paper draw from SAGE Wave 1 and consisted of adults aged 50-plus from China (N=13,157), Ghana (N=4,305), India (N=6,560), Mexico (N=2,318), the Russian Federation (N=3,938) and South Africa (N=3,836). Seven main common risk factors for NCDs were identified: daily tobacco use, frequent heavy drinking, low level physical activity, insufficient vegetable and fruit intake, high risk waist-hip ratio, obesity and hypertension. Multiple risk factors were also calculated by summing all these risk factors.ResultsThe prevalence of daily tobacco use ranged from 7.7% (Ghana) to 46.9% (India), frequent heavy drinker was the highest in China (6.3%) and lowest in India (0.2%), and the highest prevalence of low physical activity was in South Africa (59.7%). The highest prevalence of respondents with high waist-to-hip ratio risk was 84.5% in Mexico, and the prevalence of self-reported hypertension ranging from 33% (India) to 78% (South Africa). Obesity was more common in South Africa, the Russia Federation and Mexico (45.2%, 36% and 28.6%, respectively) compared with China, India and Ghana (15.3%, 9.7% and 6.4%, respectively). China, Ghana and India had a higher prevalence of respondents with multiple risk factors than Mexico, the Russia Federation and South Africa. The occurrence of three and four risk factors was more prevalent in Mexico, the Russia Federation and South Africa.ConclusionThere were substantial variations across countries and settings, even between upper-middle income countries and lower-middle income countries. The baseline information on the magnitude of the problem of risk factors provided by this study can help countries and health policymakers to set up interventions addressing the global non-communicable disease epidemic.

Diabetes in South African older adults: prevalence and impact on quality of life and functional disability – as assessed using SAGE Wave 1 data

“…Being sedentary was found to impact the quality of life, which is consistent with other studies: for example, in older individuals, even light-intensity physical activity is related to higher self-rated physical health and psychosocial well-being [42]. Notably, the prevalence of a low level of physical activity in the South Africa data was higher than in any other SAGE country (China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russian Federation) [43]. Although age and diabetes conspire to decrease fitness and strength, physical activity interventions improve functional status in older adults with and without diabetes [44].…”

Socioeconomic Disparities in the Prevalence of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Ghanaian Women

“…13 Another study found a higher risk for hypertension among people with higher income and residence in urban areas. 14 These findings are in contrast to multiple studies from the United States providing evidence that women of higher SES are less likely to be obese or develop diabetes, likely because of better access to health care and healthy dietary patterns, whereas lower SES women were more likely to be obese, diabetic, and hypertensive. 15–19 This contrasting pattern of association between SES and health may be due to the relatively recent economic transition in countries like Ghana, because studies of other developing countries have revealed a pattern of an initial increase in overnutrition and sedentary lifestyles as a result of urbanization, preceding a later shift to increased recreational physical activity and healthy dietary patterns as the negative health consequences become apparent.…”

Overweight and obesity epidemic in Ghana—a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Out of this number, 41 met the inclusion criteria for addition to the review. Two (2) additional studies were retrieved through reference screening of selected papers bringing the total number of studies included in the review to 43 [44–86]. These 43 studies (Table 1) involved a sample population of 48,966 with individual study sample size ranging from 59 to 9215.…”

“…These 43 studies (Table 1) involved a sample population of 48,966 with individual study sample size ranging from 59 to 9215. The studies were conducted across all the 10 regions of Ghana and included 4 nationally-sampled studies [60, 70, 76, 86]. Regional-based studies were distributed as follows; Ashanti (n = 11), Greater Accra (n = 15), Northern (n = 7), Volta (n = 1), Upper East (n = 1), Central (n = 3) and one inter-regional study (Greater Accra and Upper West).…”