Prevalent, uncontrolled, and undiagnosed diabetes mellitus among urban adults in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia: A population-based cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE: Globally, 8.8% of adults were estimated to have diabetes mellitus, with the low-and middle-income countries sharing the largest burden. However, the research evidence for targeted interventions is lacking in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, disaggregated by the epidemiology of diabetes mellitus morbidity and associated factors among adults in Dire Dawa town, Eastern Ethiopia. METHODS: Data from a total of 872 randomly sampled adults aged 25–64 years were obtained for analysis using the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to non-communicable disease risk factors surveillance instruments. We estimated the prevalence of diabetes mellitus disaggregated by the previous diabetes mellitus diagnosis status and by the current blood sugar level control status. The bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression model was used to identify correlates of diabetes mellitus, along with STATA version 14.2 for data management and analysis. All statistical tests were declared significant at p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: 14.9% (95% confidence interval: 12.1, 17.4) of adults aged 25–64 years had diabetes mellitus in the study sample with 58.5% (95% confidence interval: 49.7, 66.7) on diabetes mellitus medication. Among adults currently taking diabetes mellitus medications, 30.3% (95% confidence interval: 19.8, 45.6) had uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. The magnitude of previously undiagnosed diabetes mellitus was 6.2% (95% confidence interval: 4.8, 8.0) in the study sample and 41.5% (95% confidence interval: 33.3, 50.3) among the diabetics. The odds of diabetes mellitus were higher among adults over the age of 55 years (adjusted odds ratio = 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 3.6), currently married adults (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 4.4), and overweight adults (adjusted odds ratio = 1.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 2.1). Adults with primary education (adjusted odds ratio = 0.4, 95% confidence interval: 0.2, 0.8) and no formal education (adjusted odds ratio = 0.5, 95% confidence interval: 0.2, 0.9) had lower odds of diabetes mellitus. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus among adults was high in Dire Dawa, with a third of the diabetics having poor control of their blood sugar levels and, nearly four in ten were previously undiagnosed. Adults who were overweight, currently married, and those over 55 years need to be targeted for regular diabetes health checkups and community-based screening. Also, a mechanism should be instituted to track a patient’s adherence to medications and promote diabetes self-care management.