Abstract:
Background: Diabetes comorbidities have a considerable negative influence on people’s quality
of life and healthcare delivery and raise diabetic mortality. However, there is limited information
about diabetes comorbidities and risk factors in the study setting. Therefore, this study aimed to
determine the magnitude and factors related to diabetes comorbidities among patients with
diabetes in East Hararghe, Ethiopia.
Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from June 01 to 30, 2022 among
440 patients with diabetes at three public hospitals in East Hararghe, Ethiopia. The participants
were selected using systematic random sampling. The data were collected through interviews using
a structured questionnaire. Data related to diabetes comorbid and biochemical tests were extracted
from medical records. Diabetes comorbidity was dependent variable. A Poisson regression model
with robust variance estimation was used to investigate the association of independent variables
with comorbidities. An adjusted prevalence ratio with a 95% CI was reported to show an
association using a p-value ≤0.05.
Results: The magnitude of diabetes comorbidities was 71.1% (95% CI:67.2%-75.6%). Duration
of diabetes ≥10 years (APR=1.74; 95% CI: 1.45, 2.08), participants with T2D (APR=1.26;95%
CI:1.01-1.59), poor glycemic control (APR=1.17;95% CI:1.02-1.34), nonadherence to diabetes
treatment (APR=1.48; 95% CI: 1.15-1.90) and low self-efficacy (APR=1.24;95% CI:1.06-1.44)
were factors significantly associated with the diabetes comorbidities.
Conclusion: The magnitude of diabetes comorbidities was high, with more than two-thirds of
diabetes patients experiencing it. This implies that the diabetes comorbidities are endangering their
lives in various ways and increasing the need for medical care. Diabetes co-morbidities were more
common among those with poor diabetic medication adherence, low self-efficacy, type 2 diabetes,
more than ten years of diabetes treatment, and poor glycemic control.
