Prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among Ethiopian adults

To determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among members of an Ethiopian occupational cohort; and to examine the proportion of adults who were aware of their conditions.

A total of 2153 of subjects were included in this cross-sectional study. The World Health Organization STEPwise approach for non-communicable diseases was used to collect socio-demographic data, blood pressure measures and blood samples from participants. Prevalence estimates for hypertension and diabetes were determined separately. The 95% confidence intervals for prevalence estimates were also determined.

The overall prevalence of hypertension was 19.1% (95%CI: 17.1-20.8) and 22% (95%CI: 20.2-23.8) and 14.9% (95%CI: 13.4-16.4) among men and women respectively. The overall prevalence of diabetes was 6.5% (95%CI: 5.4-7.6) and 6.4% (95%CI: 5.0-7.8) and 6.6% (95%CI: 4.8-8.4) among men and women correspondingly. Notably, 15% of hypertensives reported never having had their blood pressure checked prior to the present study examination. Approximately 45% of participants who had their blood pressure checked were never diagnosed with hypertension, but were found to be hypertensive in our study. Approximately 27% of newly diagnosed diabetics (during this study) reported never having a previous blood glucose test. Among those who had their blood glucose assessed prior to this study, 17.4% were found to have diabetes but were never diagnosed.

The high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes reported in our study confirms findings from other Sub-Saharan Africa countries, and extends the literature to urban dwelling Ethiopians where non-communicable diseases are emerging as a major public health concern.