Background/Objectives: Diabetes is a global public health problem, and its burden is rising, particularly in developing countries. However, limited data is available from sub-Sahara African communities to assess and monitor the disease burden. The study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of diabetes in Hosanna, Ethiopia. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 634 randomly selected adults in Hosanna. The study participants were recruited by multi-stage stratified sampling. A face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire was administered by trained nurses. Anthropometry, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose levels were measured. Diabetes mellitus was considered when the fasting blood glucose level was ≥126 mg/dl on two separate measurements or when the participant self-reported a previous diagnosis of diabetes by healthcare providers or when the participant was currently receiving treatment for diabetes. Multi-variable binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with diabetes mellitus. Findings: The overall prevalence of diabetes was found to be 5.7% (95% CI; 4.0-7.7), out of which more than one third (36%) were not aware of it prior to the survey. Nearly two thirds (61.1%) of the diabetic participants were also found to be hypertensive. In the multi-variable analysis, diabetes was associated with current alcohol use, sitting on average of more than 8 hours/day, abnormal BMI and being hypertensive. Conclusion: The prevalence of diabetes among the adult population in the town is alarming. If appropriate measures to address the burden are not emplaced, it might result in serious complications to the patients and unnecessarily high costs to the health system of the country. Active screening for raised blood glucose level should be given due consideration, particularly in the community setting. Designing health education programs on the importance of physical activity and the risks of alcohol use should also be considered.

ObjectiveHypertension is a global public health problem, with its burden increasing particularly in developing countries. However, it has not yet received due attention in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of hypertension among adult population in Hosanna town, southern Ethiopia.DesignCommunity-based cross-sectional study.SettingHosanna town, southern Ethiopia.ParticipantsAdult population aged ≥18 years (n=634) were recruited by a multistage stratified sampling technique.Outcome measuresA face-to-face interview using structured questionnaire was carried out by trained nurses. Anthropometry and blood pressure were measured following standard procedures. Hypertension status was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg in two separate measurements or reported use of prescribed antihypertensive drugs for raised blood pressure. Factors associated with hypertension were identified by multivariable binary logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 17.2% (19.3% and 14.2% among men and women, respectively). About 40% were unaware that they were hypertensive prior to the study. Older age ≥35 years (adjusted OR=3.9, 95% CI: 1.4 to 10.8), alcohol use (adjusted OR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.4 to 8.3), consumption of saturated oil (adjusted OR=6.5, 95% CI: 1.5 to 17.5) and unspecified different types of oil (adjusted OR=8.2, 95% CI: 1.9 to 25.1) and overweight/obesity (adjusted OR=2.9, 95% CI: 1.9 to 4.6) were found to be independently associated with hypertension.ConclusionsThe prevalence of both diagnosed and undiagnosed hypertension is alarmingly high in the town. These findings underscore the need to design health information provision systems on the risk factors of hypertension and promote good health practices. Blood pressure screening programmes at community levels to identify and treat undiagnosed hypertension should be considered.

13Background: Hypertension is a leading cause of cardio-vascular diseases and its attributed 14 mortality. No previous study, however, assessed the prevalence and associated factors of 15 hypertension in the study area. 16Methods: We recruited a representative sample of 627 adult individuals from selected kebeles 17 of Hosanna town. A multi-stage sampling technique was employed in the study. A structured 18 questionnaire using the WHO STEPS approach was employed to conduct a face to face interview 19 and physical measurements. For each participant, we measured blood pressure two times after 20 giving 10 minutes breaks between the measurements and we took the average. Hypertension 21 status was defined as "systolic blood pressure ≥140mmhg and/or diastolic blood pressure 22 ≥90mmhg". Undiagnosed hypertension was defined as participants who had raised blood 23 pressure on measurement, but not aware of it before. We used Multivariable logistic regression 24 model to determine factors associated with hypertension. 25Results: The overall prevalence of hypertension was found to be 17.2% (95% CI 14.5 -19.9), 26 19.3% among men and 14.2% among women, of which 10.2% were unaware of it before. 27Hypertension was significantly associated with old age ≥35 years, excess alcohol intake, 28 consumption of saturated oil/fat), consumption of unspecified different types of oil/fat and 29 overweight/obesity.30 Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension (both diagnosed and undiagnosed) in the town is 31 unacceptably high. This is also related to modifiable risk factors like excessive alcohol intake, 32 overweight/obesity and consumption of saturated fat/oil. Therefore, designing health information 33 provision systems on the risk factors of hypertension and promotion of good health practices 3 34 should be considered. Moreover, the health departments should facilitate blood pressure 35 screening programs at community levels to identify and treat undiagnosed hypertension. 36 Key words: Hypertension, Undiagnosed hypertension, Raised blood pressure, Community 37 based, WHO STEPS 38 4 40 8 131 of unhealthy diet was measured using the fruit and vegetables consumption level, eating outside 132 the home and type of oil/fat most used for meal preparation. 133 Data management and analysis 134 Data were checked, cleaned, and entered in to Epi data 3.1. Version software, then imported to 135 SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Incomplete and inconsistent data were excluded from the 136 analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the sample. The prevalence of hypertension 137 was described using the proportion and 95% confidence interval. Associations between 138 independent variables and dependent variables were analyzed first using bivariate analysis to 139 identify factors eligible for multivariable analysis. Those variables with p-value < 0.25 in the 140 bivariate analysis were included in the multi-variable analysis. The magnitude of the association 141between the independent and dependent variables was measured using odds rat...