Current health status and its risk factors of the Tsarang villagers living at high altitude in the Mustang district of Nepal

Sweta Koirala,Tomo Ichikawa,Takayuki Nishimura,Kishor Pandey,Shouhei Takeuchi,Takayuki Wada,Taro Yamamoto,Hiromu Ito,Masayuki Nakano,Basu Dev Pandey,Hiroaki Arima

doi:10.1186/s40101-018-0181-y

Abstract

BackgroundEpidemiology of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) are influenced by multiple hosts and environmental factors. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of NCDs and determine their risk factors among the adults residing in an isolated village situated at a rural highland of Nepal.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted in a village located at 3570 m. Each 188 randomly selected participants of age ≥ 18 years old answered a questionnaire and took a full physical exam that included biomedical measurements of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c).ResultsThe prevalence of intermediate hyperglycemia and DM was 31.6% and 4.6% respectively, and the prevalence of hypoxemia (SpO2 < 90%) was 27.1%. A multiple logistic regression analysis for factors for the prevalence of glucose intolerance (HbA1c ≥ 6%) revealed older age (odds ratio [OR] 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06–1.16, for every 1 year increase) and SpO2 (OR for hypoxemia 3.58, 95% CI 1.20–10.68, vs SpO2 ≥ 90%).ConclusionsTibetan highlanders in the remote mountainous Mustang valley of Nepal have high prevalence of impaired glucose metabolism which could be related to hypoxemia imposed by the hypoxic conditions of high altitude living.

Highlights

Epidemiology of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) are influenced by multiple hosts and environmental factors
Low- and middle-income countries are facing with burdens of two major public health concerns, communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs)
On a stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis, we found that lifestyle and health-related factors were significantly associated with the prevalence of intermediate hyperglycemia (IHG)/DM in our participants (Table 5)

Summary

Introduction

Epidemiology of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) are influenced by multiple hosts and environmental factors. Low- and middle-income countries are facing with burdens of two major public health concerns, communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs like diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity, and hypertension (HT) are one of the most serious public health concerns resulting in severe healthcare burdens throughout the world [1, 4]. In Nepal, a World Bank defined low-income country, a nationwide survey on NCDs revealed that multifactorial elements were involved in the growing burden of NCDs as an emerging public health concern [6]. In order to achieve this plan, it requires understanding about current health status including the prevalence of NCDs and their risk factors of the population at the national level. Nepalese population-based studies on incidence and prevalence of NCDs and their risk factors are limited [9, 10]

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