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Ochmann S, von Polenz I, Marcus ME, Theilmann M, Flood D, Agoudavi K, Aryal KK, Bahendeka S, Bicaba B, Bovet P, Campos Caldeira Brant L, Carvalho Malta D, Damasceno A, Farzadfar F, Gathecha G, Ghanbari A, Gurung M, Guwatudde D, Houehanou C, Houinato D, Hwalla N, Jorgensen JA, Karki KB, Lunet N, Martins J, Mayige M, Moghaddam SS, Mwalim O, Mwangi KJ, Norov B, Quesnel-Crooks S, Rezaei N, Sibai AM, Sturua L, Tsabedze L, Wong-McClure R, Davies J, Geldsetzer P, Bärnighausen T, Atun R, Manne-Goehler J, Vollmer S. Diagnostic testing for hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolaemia in low-income and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional study of data for 994 185 individuals from 57 nationally representative surveys. Lancet Glob Health 2023; 11:e1363-e1371. [PMID: 37591584 PMCID: PMC10480389 DOI: 10.1016/s2214-109x(23)00280-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Testing for the risk factors of cardiovascular disease, which include hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolaemia, is important for timely and effective risk management. Yet few studies have quantified and analysed testing of cardiovascular risk factors in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) with respect to sociodemographic inequalities. We aimed to address this knowledge gap. METHODS In this cross-sectional analysis, we pooled individual-level data for non-pregnant adults aged 18 years or older from nationally representative surveys done between Jan 1, 2010, and Dec 31, 2019 in LMICs that included a question about whether respondents had ever had their blood pressure, glucose, or cholesterol measured. We analysed diagnostic testing performance by quantifying the overall proportion of people who had ever been tested for these cardiovascular risk factors and the proportion of individuals who met the diagnostic testing criteria in the WHO package of essential noncommunicable disease interventions for primary care (PEN) guidelines (ie, a BMI >30 kg/m2 or a BMI >25 kg/m2 among people aged 40 years or older). We disaggregated and compared diagnostic testing performance by sex, wealth quintile, and education using two-sided t tests and multivariable logistic regression models. FINDINGS Our sample included data for 994 185 people from 57 surveys. 19·1% (95% CI 18·5-19·8) of the 943 259 people in the hypertension sample met the WHO PEN criteria for diagnostic testing, of whom 78·6% (77·8-79·2) were tested. 23·8% (23·4-24·3) of the 225 707 people in the diabetes sample met the WHO PEN criteria for diagnostic testing, of whom 44·9% (43·7-46·2) were tested. Finally, 27·4% (26·3-28·6) of the 250 573 people in the hypercholesterolaemia sample met the WHO PEN criteria for diagnostic testing, of whom 39·7% (37·1-2·4) were tested. Women were more likely than men to be tested for hypertension and diabetes, and people in higher wealth quintiles compared with those in the lowest wealth quintile were more likely to be tested for all three risk factors, as were people with at least secondary education compared with those with less than primary education. INTERPRETATION Our study shows opportunities for health systems in LMICs to improve the targeting of diagnostic testing for cardiovascular risk factors and adherence to diagnostic testing guidelines. Risk-factor-based testing recommendations rather than sociodemographic characteristics should determine which individuals are tested. FUNDING Harvard McLennan Family Fund, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the US National Institutes of Health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Ochmann
- Department of Economics and Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany
| | | | - Maja-Emilia Marcus
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michaela Theilmann
- Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, and University Hospital, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | | | - Krishna Kumar Aryal
- Bergen Center for Ethics and Priority Setting, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Silver Bahendeka
- Saint Francis Hospital Nsambya, Uganda Martyrs University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Brice Bicaba
- Institut National de Santé Publique, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Pascal Bovet
- Ministry of Health, Victoria, Seychelles; University Center for General Medicine and Public Health (Unisanté), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Luisa Campos Caldeira Brant
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Deborah Carvalho Malta
- Postgraduate Program in Public Health, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | | | - Farshad Farzadfar
- Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Gladwell Gathecha
- Division of Non-Communicable Diseases, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Ali Ghanbari
- Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mongal Gurung
- Health Research and Epidemiology Unit, Ministry of Health, Thimphu, Bhutan
| | - David Guwatudde
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Corine Houehanou
- Laboratory of Epidemiology of Chronic and Neurological Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
| | - Dismand Houinato
- Laboratory of Epidemiology of Chronic and Neurological Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Benin
| | - Nahla Hwalla
- Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Jutta Adelin Jorgensen
- Global Health Section, Dept of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Cophenhagen, Denmark
| | - Khem B Karki
- Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
| | - Nuno Lunet
- Departamento de Ciências da Saúde Pública e Forenses e Educação Médica, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; EPIUnit, Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional, Porto, Portugal
| | - Joao Martins
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa'e, Dili, Timor-Leste
| | - Mary Mayige
- National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Sahar Saeedi Moghaddam
- Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Kiel, Germany
| | - Omar Mwalim
- Bergen Center for Ethics and Priority Setting, Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Ministry of Health, Zanzibar City, Tanzania
| | - Kibachio Joseph Mwangi
- Division of Non-Communicable Diseases, Ministry of Health, Nairobi, Kenya; Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Bolormaa Norov
- Nutrition Division, National Center for Public Health, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
| | | | - Negar Rezaei
- Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Abla M Sibai
- Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Lela Sturua
- Non-Communicable Disease Department, National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, Tbilisi, Georgia
| | | | - Roy Wong-McClure
- Office of Epidemiology and Surveillance, Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social, San José, Costa Rica
| | - Justine Davies
- Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK; MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Centre for Global Surgery, Department of Global Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Pascal Geldsetzer
- Division of Primary Care and Population Health, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Till Bärnighausen
- Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, and University Hospital, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Cambridge, MA, USA; Africa Health Research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
| | - Rifat Atun
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jennifer Manne-Goehler
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Medical Practice Evaluation Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sebastian Vollmer
- Department of Economics and Centre for Modern Indian Studies, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.
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