Manifestation of diabetes among different professionals in the Volta Region of Ghana

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a public health threat due to its increasing prevalence and the development of long-term complications which affect quality of life. The aetiopathogenesis of the disease involves a variety of genetic, environmental and lifestyle practices. Therefore, the prevalence of the disease may differ in people with different conditions of work and stress-related activities. There is currently limited data on the prevalence of DM among security services and university students in Ghana. It is for this reason that we carried out this population-based investigation to examine the prevalence of the disease in these specific group of people.
Methods: We measured the weight and height of three categories of participants, namely, the adult population in the general public, security personnel and university students. Then we calculated their body mass indices (BMIs). We also measured their blood pressure and took blood samples for the estimation of fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.
Results: The prevalence of DM among the participants was 6.4%. There was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.0001) in the prevalence of DM among the categories with the security personnel recording the highest occurrence (13.7%) followed by the general population (8.4%) and the university students (1.2%).
Conclusion: The prevalence of DM among security personnel in Ho, Volta Region, Ghana, is higher than that of the general population.