A total of 332 participants took part in the current study and majority (72%) of the participants were females as compared to males and there was a statistical significance difference (p-value 0.001) between the age groups. The overall age distribution among participants increased with increasing age from 4.2% in age group 18 – 24 years to 30.4% in age group 35 – 44 years then dropped to 26.5% and 17.5% in age groups 45 – 54 years and above 55 years respectively. Considering gender distribution, 7.6% of the male participants were in age group 18 – 24 years; 31.6% in age group 45 – 54 years then dropped to 27%. Amongst females, a similar trend was witnessed, from 2.9% in age group 18 – 24 years to 33.8% in age group 25 – 44 years but then dropped to 24.6% and 13.8% in age groups 45 -54 years and above 55 years respectively as presented in Table 1. Approximately 44.6% of males were unemployed as compared to 66.3% of females and approximately 36% of males were employed as compared to 26% of females. Majority of females were single at 45.8% whereas 51.1% of males were married. Lastly majority of the participants had a primary school level of education followed by no formal school as illustrated in Table 1.
Baseline and current body mass index and blood pressure
Comparing the baseline and current body mass index at time of study, overweight at the initiation of ART amongst the participants was 18.1% and obesity was 11.5% as compared to at the time of the study which was 21.4% overweight and 19.6% obese. The current study findings revealed that there is no significant difference for males, however overweight percentage increased from 13% to 20.7%. The baseline and current body mass index at time of study for females showed that there is a significant difference at p-value 0.006. Obesity increased from 14.6% to 25.8% in females. The blood pressure among males indicated a significant difference at p-value 0.026 and stage 2 hypertension category increased from 0% to 7.6%. The blood pressure among females also indicated a significant difference at p-value 0.038 and pre-hypertension increased from 17.1% to 22.5% whereas stage 2 hypertension dropped from 3.3% to 0.8% (Table 2).
Prevalence of selected risk factors
The overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 34.6% and males had the highest prevalence at approximately 41% as compared to 32% of females. In breaking down hypertension into different stages, the overall prevalence of pre-hypertension was high at 23.2% and males had a prevalence of pre-hypertension of 25% as compared to 22.5% of females. Stage 1 hypertension had an overall prevalence of approximately 8.7% and both males and females had the same prevalence. Stage 2 hypertension had the lowest overall prevalence of 2.7% and males had a prevalence of 7.6 which is 6.8% higher than females (Table 3).
The overall prevalence of overweight was 21.4% and females had a slightly higher prevalence than males at 21.7% and 20.7% respectively. Obesity had an overall prevalence of 19.6% and females had a higher prevalence than males with 22.5%. The overall prevalence of abnormal waist circumference was 31.9% and females had a higher prevalence of 42.5% as compared to 4.4% of males. The overall prevalence of smoking 10.8% and males had a higher prevalence at 32.6% as compared to 2.5% of females. Lastly, the overall prevalence of alcohol consumption was 21.7% and similarly to smoking, males had a high prevalence at 39.1% as compared to 15% in females (Table 3).
The predictors of selected cardiovascular disease risk factors
The findings of the current study show that in univariate logistic regression, older people were 1.6 times more likely to be hypertensive than young ones. Participants who were widowed were 2.1 times more likely hypertensive than participants who were married. Participants who were on ART regimens (Dumiva and efavirenz) and (Dumiva and alluvia) respectively were 2.1 and 3.3 times more likely hypertensive than participants who were on Fixed-Dose Combination (FDC) therapy (p<0.005) (Table 4). In multivariate logistic regression, older participants were 1.9 times more likely to be hypertensive than younger participants and participants who were on ART regimens Dumiva and alluvia respectively were 3.2 times more likely hypertensive than participants who were on FDC (p<0.05) (Table 5).
In univariate logistic regression, participants with higher educational level were 1.6 times more likely to be overweight than participants with lower educational level (p<0.005) (Table 4) whereas multivariate logistic regression, participants with higher educational level were 0.5 times less likely to be overweight than participants with lower educational level participants (p<0.05) (Table 5). Participants who were males were 0.09 times less likely to be obese than females in univariate logistic regression (p<0.001) (Table 4) whereas in multivariate logistic regression, males were 0.05 times less likely to be obese than females (p<0.001) (Table 5). Participants who were males were 0.3 times less likely to have high waist circumference than females in univariate logistic regression (p<0.001) (Table 4) whereas in multivariate logistic regression, males were 0.07 times less likely to have high waist circumference than females (p<0.001) (Table 5). In univariate logistic regression, participants who were on ART regimens Dumiva and efavirenz were 2.1 times more likely to have high waist circumference than participants who were on FDC (p<0.05) (Table 4) whereas in multivariate logistic regression, participants who were on ART regimens Dumiva and efavirenz were 3.4 times more likely to have high waist circumference than participants who were on FDC (p<0.001) (Table 5).
In univariate logistic regression, older people were 1.5 times more likely to be smokers than younger people but not statistically significant. However, males were 18.9 times more likely to be smokers than females (p<0.001). Participants who were single, cohabiting and divorced were 3.6, 3.9 and 5.6 times more likely to be smokers respectively as compared to participants who were married (p<0.05) (Table 4). In multivariate logistic regression, males were 21.9 times more likely to be smokers as compared to females (p<0.001). With regard to alcohol consumption, older people were found to be 0.3 times less likely to consume alcohol as compared to young people (p<0.005) in univariate logistic regression and in multivariate logistic regression, older people were found to be 0.3 times less likely to consume alcohol as compared to young people (p<0.001). Males were 4 times more likely to consume alcohol as compared to females (p<0.001) and in both univariate and multivariate logistic regression participants who were on ART regimens Dumiva and efavirenz were 0.3 times less likely to consume alcohol than participants who were on FDC (p<0.05) (Table 4 and Table 5). In multivariate logistic regression, males were 4.9 times more likely to consume alcohol than females (p<0.001) than females (Table 5).