PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AND DIABETES AMONG COMMERCIAL DRIVERS IN IBADAN METROPOLIS, SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Abstract

The incidences of hypertension and diabetes, major cardio-metabolic risk factors, are continually on the increase and contributing largely to global morbidity and mortality.The commercial drivers, by virtue of their job activities and environment are prone to the risk factors for these diseases. Due to the asymptomatic nature of these diseases, sufferers live with them undetected leading to cardio-vascular and cerebrovascular complications which could reduce productivity, and be fatal if it occurs while a driver is on duty resulting in accident. However, hypertension and diabetes have not been adequately studied among commercial drivers. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among commercial drivers in Ibadan metropolis, South-West Nigeria. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 305 male commercial drivers selected from the parks across the Ibadan metropolis using multistage sampling technique. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, work related characteristics, knowledge about hypertension and diabetes, family history of hypertension and diabetes and physical activity. Alcohol consumption and tobacco use were also assessed. The blood pressure, waist circumference, hip circumference, body weight, height and blood sugar level of respondents were also measured. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of ≥ 90mmHg and diabetes was defined as ≥126mg/dl fasting blood sugar. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation and proportion. Association between categorical variable was tested using Chi square test.Level of significance was set at 5%. The mean age of respondents was 45.3±10.5 years. Majority, (92.1%) were married and 42.6% had secondary education. The commercial drivers drove for an average of six hours per day, 17.4% used stimulants. Overall, 40.0% of respondents had good knowledge about hypertension while 35.4% had good knowledge about diabetes. About 49.0% reported to have ever smoked while 77.7% had consumed alcohol and 31.1 % and 22.0% reported frequent (≥4 days) fruits and vegetable consumption, respectively. About 41.0% and 56.1% reported they used palm oil and vegetable oil, respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was 27.7% and diabetes was 3.4% while 42.9% of those with diabetes had comorbid state with hypertension. About 9.1 % of those who had abdominal obesity had fasting blood sugar ≥126mg/dl compared to 6.1 % of those who were not (p =0.003). Respondents with obesity (BMI >30kg/m2 ) were one and a half times more likely to have hypertension compared with those who were not obese (AOR=1.5, CI 95%:0.61-3.83). The association between intake of extra salt (AOR= 0.06), consumption of vegetable oil (AOR= 0.03) and palm oil (AOR=0.01) with diabetes were also significant. There was a high prevalence of hypertension and relatively low prevalence of diabetes among commercial drivers in Ibadan metropolis. Therefore, health awareness campaign and free health screening for early detection should be encouraged to reduce the incidences of diabetes and hypertension and their risk factors among this group of people.