Background: The risk factors of Noncommunicable
diseases (NCDs) are not routinely
monitored, especially among populace reporting to
hospitals to detect and also advise on preventive
measures, a key strategy to reducing the impact of
NCDs on the Health Care System and population.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out
between the months of May and June, 2010 among
a sample representative of the medical and surgical
out-patients population to determine the prevalence
of certain risk factors of non-communicable
diseases (NCDs). Participants (n = 230) were
selected by systematic random sampling.
Standardised international protocols were used to
measure the prevalence of smoking, alcohol
consumption, physical inactivity, obesity, raised
blood pressure, raised blood glucose and total
cholesterol.
Results: The obesity level of the study population
was 40.4% with 54% being overweight. Tobacco
use among the respondents was 4.8%. Alcohol
consumption was 64.8%, with 54.3% of the study
population being physically inactive. Almost
48%and 70.9% of the participants consumed fruits
and vegetables respectively, at least three days in a
week. The prevalence of hypertension was 33.6%
for men and 35.2% for women. The prevalence of
raised glucose and total blood cholesterol level
among the study population was 6.5%. Almost
62% of the participants had a combination of three
or more risk factors.
Conclusion: The prevalence of the significant risk
factors in this study were physical inactivity
(54.3%), alcohol consumption (64.8%), overweight
(54%), obesity (40.4%) and raised blood pressure
(34.3%). Hospitals should therefore include NCD
risk factor monitoring as part of routine services.