Razi International Medical Journal (May 2024)

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Adult Population in Afghanistan

  • Khwaja Mir Islam Saeed,
  • Tajmalook Samim,
  • Ahmad Farshid Muhammadi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.56101/rimj.v4i1.156
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 3 – 14

Abstract

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Background: After great change in governing of Afghanistan in 2001 the country is experiencing the double burden of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. In this paper, we estimated the prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) and its components among Afghan adults’ citizens using data from the first WHO STEP survey. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of adults’ individuals of ≥ 25 years in five main cities of Afghanistan including Jalalabad, Mazar Sharif, Kandahar, Herat and in Kabul during 2012 to 2015. The study was conducted in accordance with the STEPwise approach of the World Health Organization. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome, its components and associated risk factors were calculated using Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III criteria modified for Asian in habitants. Data management, analysis and statistical procedures conducted using Epi info v. 7 and SPSS v. 20. Results: Totally 5897 adult citizens were enrolled in this study. The average age of study subjects 39.56±12.29 years, consisting of 3185 females (54%) and 2712 males (46%). Generally, 62% of participants were illiterate and majority (82.5%) were married. The prevalence of smoking cigarettes and using mouth snuff was 8% and 11.1% and this proportion were very low in females (2.7% and 2.5%) than males (14.1% and 21.1%); this difference was statistically significant (p value=<0.01). The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 39.69% (95%CI: 38.42 – 40.97). The highest rate (52.70%) was recorded in Jalalabad and lowest rate (34.11%) in Herat cities. Moderate physical activity had a statistically significant association with syndrome (OR=1.16; 95%CI:1.031-1.306). Conclusion: Despite of struggling to control communicable diseases the country is faced with challenge of noncommunicable diseases, if the MetS is counted as a typical model. It warrants formulated public health measures to prevent morbidity and mortality due to noncommunicable disease in the future.

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