Correlates of diabetes mellitus and hypertension in India: change as evidenced from NFHS- 4 and 5 during 2015–2021

Both diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) have been on the rise in recent decades all over the world more remarkably in developing countries like India. We intend to measure the prevalence of DM and HTN in the Indian population and to compare the trends and various correlates of these diseases in NFHS (National Family Health Survey)-4 and 5. Data of NFHS-4 and 5 were accessed from dhs program website. All statistical analyses were done in SAS (version 9.4). Mixed effects survey logistic regression models were used for estimating odds ratio (OR).p-values <0.05 were considered significant .1,637,762 individual case entries were evaluated. Both the diseases showed an increasing trend as per the advancing age in both sexes. The highest prevalence of DM is seen in the age group of 45–49 years (7.8%) in females and > 50 years (11.9%) in males as per NFHS-5. Similarly, the highest prevalence of HTN was seen in the age group of45–49 years (31.2%) in females and > 50 years (41.4%) in males as per NFHS-5. The OR (95% CI) of prevalence of DM, HTN and both the diseases in age group >50 years was 14.46 (13.14–15.7), 16.65 (15.78–17.6), 79.5 (64.76–97.73) respectively when compared to reference age group15-19 years. Highest odds for having both DM, HTN concurrently was in age >50 years with aOR(95% CI) 65.32 (52.26–72.63) in NFHS 4 and 35.57 (97.47–45.53) in NFHS 5.Rise in prevalence of DM, HTN and concurrent presence is noted with an apparent increase in cases.