Abstract P321: Prevalence of Hypertension Among People Diagnosed With Diabetes in Africa, a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Hypertension (HTN) and diabetes (DM) share common pathophysiological mechanisms and hence have a high likelihood of co-occurring. The co-existence of HTN and DM increase increases CVD risk and exponentially increases health spending. Little is known about the burden of HTN in people with DM in Africa. Objective: To estimate the pooled prevalence of HTN in people with DM in African countries. Methods: This review was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. We searched PubMed, Embase, and Hinari databases to identify peer-reviewed articles which provided data on the prevalence of HTN in people diagnosed with DM in Africa. We included studies that defined DM diagnosis as hemoglobin A1(HbA1c) >7.0 and HTN diagnosis as BP≥140/90mmHg. We quantified the prevalence of HTN using random-effects models. We applied generalized linear mixed models with logit transformation to compute regional and overall pooled prevalence and estimated heterogeneity (I 2 ). Results: Out of 3810 studies retrieved from the databases, 27 met the inclusion criteria with sample size between (80 - 4122). The mean age was 58 (± 11) years and 56% were women. The pool prevalence of HTN in people diagnosed with DM was 59.8% [95% CI: 52.8% - 66.5%]. By African region, Central Africa recorded the highest 77.6% [95% CI: 53.01% - 91.4%], South Africa 74.5% [95% CI: 67.4% - 80.5%], North Africa 65.5% [95% CI: 54.7% - 75.0%], West Africa 55.7% [95% CI: 44.0% - 66.7%] and East Africa 50.7% [95% CI: 43.7% - 57.3%]. Increasing age, being overweight/obese, being employed, longer duration of DM, urban residence, and male sex were associated with a higher likelihood of HTN diagnosis. Conclusion: The high prevalence of HTN among people with DM in Africa, supports an integrated differentiated service delivery to improve primary healthcare-level cardiovascular disease response mechanisms. The data generated from this review may inform the delivery of interventions to avert premature cardiovascular disease mortality among Africans.