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This study showed that the prevalence of diabetes in Zimbabwe has increased significantly over the past three decades. This poses serious challenges to the provision of care and prevention of disabling co-morbidities in an already disadvantaged healthcare setting.

Objective. Treating complications associated with diabetes and hypertension imposes significant costs on health care systems. This study estimated the hospitalization costs for inpatients in a public hospital in Zimbabwe. Methods. The study was retrospective and utilized secondary data from medical records. Total hospitalization costs were estimated using generalized linear models. Results. The median cost and interquartile range (IQR) for patients with diabetes, $994 (385–1553) mean $1319 (95% CI: 981–1657), was higher than patients with hypertension, $759 (494–1147) mean $914 (95% CI: 825–1003). Female patients aged below 65 years with diabetes had the highest estimated mean costs ($1467 (95% CI: 1177–1828)). Wound care had the highest estimated mean cost of all procedures, $2884 (95% CI: 2004–4149) for patients with diabetes and $2239 (95% CI: 1589–3156) for patients with hypertension. Age below 65 years, medical procedures (amputation, wound care, dialysis, and physiotherapy), the presence of two or more comorbidities, and being prescribed two or more drugs were associated with significantly higher hospitalization costs. Conclusion. Our estimated costs could be used to evaluate and improve current inpatient treatment and management of patients with diabetes and hypertension and determine the most cost-effective interventions to prevent complications and comorbidities.

BackgroundCardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) are an important cause of mortality worldwide and the burden associated with them is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa. The tracking of mortality helps support evidence based health policy and priority setting. Given the growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases in Zimbabwe, a study was designed to determine the mortality attributable to CMDs in Zimbabwe.MethodsThe study design was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of national mortality from 1996 to 2007, collated by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare in Zimbabwe. We employed generalized additive models to flexibly estimate the trend of the CMD mortality and a logistic regression model was used to find significant factors (cause of death according to the death certificate) of the CMD mortality and predict CMD mortality to 2040.ResultsCMDs accounted for 8.13 % (95 % CI: 8.08 % - 8.18 %) of all deaths during 1996 to 2007 (p = 0.005). During the study period CMD mortality rate increased by 29.4 % (95 % CI: 19.9 % - 41.1 %). The association between gender and CMD mortality indicated female mortality was higher for diabetes (p < 0.001), hypertensive disease (p < 0.001), CVD (p < 0.001) and pulmonary disease (p < 0.001), while male mortality was higher for ischaemic (p = 0.010) and urinary diseases (p < 0.001). There was no gender difference for endocrine disease (p = 0.893). Overall, females have 1.65 % higher mortality than males (p < 0.001). CMD mortality is predicted to increase from 9.6 % (95 % CI: 8.0 % - 11.1 %) in 2015 to 13.7 % (95 % CI: 10.2 % - 17.2 %) in 2040 for males, and from 11.6 % (95 % CI: 10.2 % - 12.9 %) in 2015 to 16.2 % (95 % CI: 13.1 % - 19.3 %) in 2040 in females.ConclusionThe findings of this study indicate a growing prevalence of CMDs and related mortality in Zimbabwe. Health policy decisions and cost-effective preventive strategies to reduce the burden of CMDs are urgently required.