title: Prevalence of obesity and systemic hypertension among diabetes mellitus patients attending an out-patient diabetes clinic in a Ghanaian Teaching Hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Diabetes Mellitus is now a prevalent disease in both developed and developing countries. Overweight/obesity and hypertension are potential modifiable risk factors for diabetes mellitus and persist during the course of the disease. This study was aimed at reporting the prevalence of overweight/obesity and systemic hypertension and their association to blood glucose levels in persons with diabetes mellitus attending a diabetic clinic in Ghanaian Teaching Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 previously diagnosed diabetes mellitus patients attending a diabetic clinic at the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Ghana. Anthropometric variables of age, weight and height were measured with appropriate instruments, computed into BMI and classified according to WHO classifications. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured by an appropriate instrument and classified by WHO standards. Fasting plasma glucose levels of the study participants were recorded from their personal health folder. All data was analysed by GraphPad prism version 5.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, 7.0% of the participants were underweight and 32.0% were overweight or obese. The mean±SD weight, height and BMI of the participants were 67.53±13.32, 1.68±0.12 and 24.18±5.32. Twenty-one percent of the studied participants were hypertensive. Mean±SD fasting plasma glucose of 7.94±2.82 was observed among the diabetic patients. As the prevalence of hyperglycaemia was higher among patients aged ≤40 years (88.9% vs. 75.8%), normoglycaemia (11.1% vs. 24.2%) was higher among those over 40 years. The differences were not significant. The prevalence of hyperglycaemia was significantly higher in participants with overweight/obese (0.0% vs. 41.6%, p<0.0001) than those with underweight (26.1% vs. 1.3%, p=0.0005) and normal weight (73.9% vs. 57.1%, p=0.2228).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high prevalence of overweight/obesity and systemic hypertension was found. Hyperglycaemia was more prevalent among overweight/obese participants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana. Electronic address: vmogre@uds.edu.gh.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mogre
authors.affiliation: Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abedandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University for Development Studies, Tamale, Ghana.
authors.forename: Zenabankara S
authors.initials: ZS
authors.lastname: Salifu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000453:epidemiology; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose
keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Ghana; Hypertension; Obesity; Overweight; Tamale