Prevalence and Predictors of Diabetes Mellitus in Jalalabad City, Afghanistan-2013

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global health problem with significant impact on health and quality of life. There is no national statistics about this disease in Afghanistan. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of DM and associated factors in adults lived in Jalalabad city, Afghanistan. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jalalabad city in May to June 2013. Multistage random sampling technique was used to choice 1200 adults aged 25-70 years. WHO STEPS approach was used to collect data on demographic and behavioral factors. Physical measurements including height, weight, blood pressure and biochemical blood analysis were done. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was performed using SPSS version.20. Results: The prevalence of diabetes was 11.8%. There was significant difference of diabetes prevalence between female and male (13.4 % vs. 9.4 %). The mean age of diabetic patients was 38.8 ±11 years. The factors such as vegetables consumption (OR:0.48, 95%CI: 0.31 – 0.75), obesity (OR:1.83, 95%CI: 1.11 – 3.03), hypertension (OR:1.99, 95%CI:1.33 – 2.97), total cholesterol (OR:1.64, 95%CI:1.07 – 2.51), and total triglycerides(OR:1.91, 95%CI: 1.16 – 3.16) independently are associated with diseases. Conclusions: The high prevalence of diabetes in working-age is cause of concern. Measures such as raising awareness and changing of lifestyle may help to reduce the burden of DM among Jalalabad adults.