Differentials in prevalence and correlates of metabolic risk factors of non-communicable diseases among women in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from 33 countries

Abstract

BackgroundEven with the widespread recognition of non- communicable diseases (NCDs) in sub-Saharan Africa region, yet, sufficient evidence-based surveillance systems to confirm the prevalence and correlates of these diseases is lacking. In an attempt to understand the problem of NCDs in resource-constrained settings, this study was conducted to establish the pattern of the risk factors of NCDs in sub-Sahara Africa region.MethodsThe current Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data sets from 33 countries in sub-Sahara Africa region were used in this study. The individual woman component of DHS 2008–2016 was used. The outcome variables include anemia, hypertension and body mass index (underweight, overweight and obesity). BMI was categorized into; underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2), normal (BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI 25.0–29.9 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). Hemoglobin level: anemic < 12.0 g/dL (< 120 g/L) for women. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg. Binary and multinomial logistic regression models were used to investigate the correlates of the variables.ResultsThe percentage of hypertension was highest among women in Lesotho with about 17.3% and lowest among women in Burundi (1.0%). Anemia was prevalent among sub-Saharan Africa women; where more than half of the women from several countries were anemic with Gabon (60.6%) reporting the highest prevalence. The percentage of obesity in sub-Saharan Africa showed that Lesotho (19.9%), Gabon (18.9%) and Ghana (15.6%) were the prominent countries with obese women, while Madagascar (1.1%) had the minimum obese women. Body mass index was significantly associated with hypertension and anemia. The behavioural or modifiable factors of hypertension and body mass index were; smoking, fruits, vegetables and alcohol consumption. While the non-modifiable significant factors include; age, residence, religion, education, wealth index, marital status, employment and number of children ever born. However, anemia shared similar factors except that smoking and vegetable consumption were not statistically significant. In addition, involvement in exercise was associated with anemia and hypertension.ConclusionThe problem of NCDs and associated factors remains high among women of reproductive age in sub-Sahara region. The findings of this study suggest that promotion of regular positive health care-seeking behaviour, screening and early treatment are essential to mitigate the burden of NCDs. Furthermore, preventive interventions of NCDs risk factors should be strengthened among key population through behavior change communication with support from government and stakeholders in health care.

Smokeless tobacco use: its prevalence and relationships with dental symptoms, nutritional status and blood pressure among rural women in Burkina Faso

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Non-communicable diseases and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa: bridging the policy-implementation gaps

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Challenges and opportunities to tackle the rising prevalence of diet-related non-communicable diseases in Africa

“…However, unlike more resource-endowed regions, Africa has a double burden of disease: NCD co-exist with infectious diseases including lower respiratory tract infections, HIV/AIDS and diarrhoeal diseases (1) . Africa also has a double burden of malnutrition where stunting, wasting and overweight and obesity co-exist, especially among children and women (6,23,(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40) . According to WHO malnutrition report for the African region, most countries have high stunting rates of more than 30 %, and the rates are rising.…”