The comparison on the risk factors of non-communicable diseases among three ecological regions in Thua Thien Hue province in 2019

Abstract

Background and objectives: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) issue is one of the 21st century’s major health and development challenge, both in terms of human suffering and the damage they cause to a country’s socioeconomic fabric. This study aimed to describe the current risk factors of NCDs and its comparison among three ecological regions in Thua Thien Hue province, Vietnam. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was applied for this study design. Data were collected from 10/2019 to 12/2019 from direct interviews of 1167 people aged 15 years and older living in urban, rural and mountainous areas of the province. The WHO-STEPS questionnaire was adopted for the data collection instructions. Results: The percentage of adults smoking in the rural area (50.3%) was higher than those who live in mountainous (41.2%) and urban (8.5%) areas (p<0.001). The figures for alcohol consumption at harmful levels of the people in mountainous, urban and rural areas were 80.6%; 10.7%; 8.7% respectively (p<0.001). There were more adults who consumed vegetables/fruits less than the WHO recommendation levels living in the rural area (45.6%) than those living in the urban area (28.0%) and mountainous area (26.4%), respectively (p<0.001). The proportion of people having physical activity less than the WHO recommendation levels in urban, rural and mountainous areas were 40.6%; 37.7%; 21.7% respectively (p<0.001). The percentages of people living in urban and rural areas who were overweight and obese, both are 33.7%, are higher than the percentage of people in mountainous areas (32.6%) (p=0.045). Conclusions: The risk factors of NCDs are different among three ecological regions of the province. Therefore, it needs various appropriate intervention approaches to reduce NCDs risk factors in each region.