Prevalence and risk factors of diabetes mellitus among HIV patients on anti-retroviral therapy at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Northern Uganda

Abstract

Africa has a high prevalence of both human immunodeficiency virus and non-communicable diseases but in Uganda there are few data on co-morbid non-communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus among HIV patients on anti-retroviral therapy. No study has reported the magnitude of diabetes mellitus among HIV patients on ART in northern Uganda. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes mellitus among HIV patients on anti-retroviral therapy at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, Northern Uganda. A cross sectional study was carried out in February 2020 among 170 HIV patients who had been on anti-retroviral therapy for 1 year and above was recruited. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire guide, a fasting blood sugar levels were tested using a validated one touch select glucometer, descriptive statistics was used to determine the prevalence while bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to assess risk factors associated with Diabetes mellitus. The overall diabetes prevalence among HIV patients was 18.8% with males at 23.4%. While the prevalence among those who reside in urban areas was 23.3% and 20.8% among the patients who were under 35-44 age category. Married patients accounted for 18.9% while 20% were obese. The prevalence of patients whose duration on anti-retroviral therapy was above 5years was 23.6% while 14.7% was among those who were on anti-retroviral therapy for greater than 5year. The prevalence of patients who were on second line regimens was 32% while for those who consume alcohol, smoke and do physical exercise was 29.4%, 31.4% and 20% respectively. Only current regimen and alcohol consumption were identified as the risk factors from the study where patients on second line 0.339(0.14-0.82), p = 0.02] and those who consume alcohol 0.357(0.15-0.85), p = 0.020] were protected from diabetes. The findings highlight the need for routine screening and assessment of factors for diabetes among HIV-infected persons receiving combination highly anti-retroviral therapy therefore a metabolic clinic may also be a good choice to improve the clinical service.