| dc.description.abstract | The main objective of the study was to examine risk factors associated with type2 diabetes in Uganda. Data used was collected from the first Non-Communicable Diseases nationwide survey in 2014, and a multistage stratified sample design was used to obtain a national representative sample. Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square test was used to find out whether sex effect modification existed among males and females. The list wise deletion method was used to deal with missing data. Fasting capillary blood glucose levels (normal, impaired, and diabetic) was the outcome variable of the study, and an ordinal logistic model was used to assess the determinants of diabetes through stratification by sex. Mantel-Haenszel Chi-square test results show the presence of sex effect modification with regard to smoking, alcohol consumption and Body Mass Index (p-values<0.05).
Model results suggested that clinical factors such as BMI and blood pressure were significant diabetes risk factors among females unlike in males while behavioral factors such as alcohol consumption were significant diabetes risk factors among males unlike in females. Males who currently consume alcohol are more likely to be diabetic compared to those who never consumed alcohol (OR=3.3, p<0.05). More still females with a high blood pressure are more likely to be diabetic compared to those with normal blood pressure (OR=1.9, p<0.05) whereas females who are underweight are also more likely to be diabetic (OR=2.2, p<0.05) compared to those with a normal weight. Other factors such as place of residence were considered and it was found that females who live in urban areas are more likely to be diabetic compared to their counterparts who live in rural areas (OR=2.2, p<0.05).
The findings from this study show that when males and females are exposed to diabetes risk factors, the risk of being diabetic is not always the same but rather depends on the risk factor and someone’s sex. There is a need to sensitize females to always check their blood pressure and policy formulation geared towards prevention and minimizing exposure to diabetes risk factors should target females as most of the clinical factors affect the female sex group compared to males | en_US |
