Factors Associated with Hypertension among Type 2 Diabetic Patients: Evidence from Resource Limited Setting of Southern Ethiopia

Begidu Yakob^1*Eskinder Israel²Mesfin Menza³Awoke Abiraham¹Tagese Yakob¹

• ¹Wolaita Zone Health Department, Wlaita Sodo, Ethiopia
• ²Wolaita Sodo University, Sodo, Ethiopia
• ³Wachemo University, Hosaena, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for around three-fourths of all deaths worldwide. Diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) are additional problems facing the healthcare system in low-and middle-income countries, due to changes in their diet habits, lifestyle and increased sedentary behavior and increased burden of malaria and HIV in this region makes a double burden. Primary health care (PHC) data has been deemed a significant data gap and prioritized by governments seeking to assess and enhance the prevention and management of chronic disease.The main aim of current study is to determine factors related with hypertension among type 2 diabetic patients in public primary health care of Southern Ethiopia.A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 6, 2023, and April 5, 2023 among 409 patients with diabetes. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. The data were cleaned, coded, and entered into Epidata version 4.6.0.2 and exported to STATA version 14 for analysis. For descriptive statistics, both bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were employed. Variables with a p-value<0.05 in the multivariable logistic regression analysis were declared as significantly associated with outcome variables.Results: A total of 407 T2DM patients were included in the current study with a response rate of 99.5% and a mean age of study participant was 57.1 years (SD ±9.91). The prevalence of hypertension among T2DM patients was 66.1% with a 95% of CI (59.9-70.3). Age group of >60 years (AOR =2.09, 95% CI (1.02-4.28)), patients with ≥10 years duration on T2DM (AOR =1.79, 95% CI (1.05-3.03)), body mass index ≥25 kg/ m2 (AOR = 4.19, 95% CI (2.10-8.33), and patients who have family history of hypertension were (AOR = 10.41, were significantly associated with hypertension among type 2 diabetic patients. The prevalence of hypertension is high and the majority has poor blood pressure control. Hence, DM care providers and other health sector stakeholders have to work in collaboration to prevent it through designing appropriate strategies especially for those at higher risk of developing hypertension.