The association between glycosylated haemoglobin and newly diagnosed hypertension in a non-diabetic Sudanese population: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is considered reliable for diagnosing and monitoring diabetes mellitus (DM). It also indicates cardiovascular complications related to DM. However, only a few studies have been conducted on this topic. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association between newly diagnosed hypertension and HbA1c among non-diabetic Sudanese adults. The sociodemographic characteristics of the participants in the sample were gathered using a questionnaire, and HbA1c was measured using an Ichroma machine. RESULTS: Three hundred and eighty-four healthy participants were enrolled in this study. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) age was 56.0 (14.0) years, and 72.1% of the participants were female. The median (IQR) body mass index (BMI) was 31.2 (8.7) kg/m(2). One hundred and fifteen (29.9%) participants presented newly diagnosed hypertension. The results of the multivariate analysis showed that age (adjusted odd ratio [AOR] = 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01‒1.05); BMI (AOR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.05‒1.14); HbA1c levels (AOR = 2.18; 95% CI = 1.29‒3.67) was positively associated with newly diagnosed hypertension. For an HbA1c level of 5.0% or more, the sensitivity and specificity of newly diagnosed hypertension were 91.3% and 28.2%, respectively (area under the curve = 0.61; 95% CI = 0.55–0.67; P ˂ 0.001). Participants who presented HbA1c levels of 5.0% or more were found to be at higher risk for newly diagnosed hypertension (AOR = 2.53; 95% CI = 1.14‒5.61). CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicated a high prevalence of newly diagnosed hypertension, and HbA1c levels were positively associated with newly diagnosed hypertension.