Trends, prevalence and factors associated with hypertension and diabetes among South African adults living with HIV, 2005–2017

At 7.9 million, South Africa has the largest population of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the world [1, 2]. The successful roll-out of the anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programme since 2004 has contributed to improvements in the life expectancy and viral load suppression in PLHIV; and deaths due to opportunistic infections have also declined [3, 4]. This has transformed HIV infection into a chronic disease and evidence shows that as a consequence of a combination of factors including ageing, being on ART, HIV infection and certain lifestyle choices, their risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including hypertension or diabetes increases [5]. In addition, the growing double burden of the HIV and NCD co-epidemics has put significant pressure not only on the affected individuals but also on the struggling health system, existing health programmes and the economy in South Africa [6‐10].

Studies that have been done to characterise the burden of hypertension and diabetes in PLHIV highlight the implication of not only collecting prevalence estimates but also adequately addressing multimorbidity in PLHIV and ensuring adequate availability of treatment to reduce the risk [7]. However, these studies present varied findings, suggesting that results and conclusions may not necessarily be extrapolated from one country to the next and not one intervention fits all [11‐18]. A meta-analysis and systematic review across sub-Saharan Africa reported prevalence estimates for hypertension in PLHIV ranging between 5.2 and 50.0% and that of diabetes to range between 0.5 and 36.6%. In South Africa, studies have also reported prevalence estimates in PLHIV for hypertension as high as 38.6% and diabetes as high as 8.66% [19, 20]. However, these estimates cannot be generalised to the entire South African population. Common risk factors of these NCDs in PLHIV have also been reported to include ageing, family history, use of ART, HIV infection, urbanisation, alcohol drinking and high body mass index in studies conducted in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa [13, 21‐27]. Also, further studies indicated that hypertension and diabetes can also act as risk factors of each other [12].

Improved understanding of the magnitude of hypertension and diabetes and associated factors among PLHIV in South Africa is vital for informing public health interventions in the country. This paper investigates trends, prevalence and associated factors of hypertension and diabetes among adults living with HIV (ALHIV) in South Africa using the 2005, 2008, 2012, and 2017 nationally representative population-based HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Surveys.

This study found an overall prevalence of hypertension among ALHIV in 2017 of 14.3%, and this was an increase since 2005. This hypertension prevalence is comparable to other African studies that also report estimates ranging between 10.2 and 17.4% [12, 18, 34‐36]. On the other hand, the overall prevalence of diabetes was 3.2% in 2017, which remained the same as in 2005 and 2008. This prevalence is lower than previously reported in other African countries with estimates ranging between 5.6 and 8.66% [12‐14, 20, 36, 37]. This may have been attributed to the participants not being aware of diabetes-related symptoms leading to the observed underestimation and this is supported by an IDF report stating that Africa has the highest proportion of undiagnosed diabetes [38]. Nevertheless, as PLHIV are more likely to interact with health facilities where hypertension screening is routine, case-finding and linkage to treatment can occur [39]. However different measures for diabetes will need to be implemented as routine vital checks at health facilities do not typically include diabetes tests unless patients have been recently diagnosed and appear “unwell” [39]. The findings also show that in 2005 most hypertensive and diabetic ALHIV were from the KwaZulu-Natal province. However, for 2017, the Gauteng province had the highest proportions of hypertensive and diabetic participants. Comparative studies to determine possible reasons for the shift from 2005 to 2017 could not be found at the time of this study. Nonetheless, according to the 2005 SABSSM survey, the KwaZulu-Natal province had a significantly higher number of PLHIV than the other provinces thus supporting our findings [28]. The shift in 2017 may have been due to urbanisation, migration and a rise in the elderly population which may be attributed to ART in PLHIV [40].

Our study also found that females, aged 45 years and older, and those who resided in an urban area had the highest prevalence of both NCDs for all 3 years. The high prevalence in women may be as a result of an underestimation in men reflecting more on their health-seeking behaviour than disease prevalence itself [14, 18, 34, 35, 41, 42]. The impact of urbanisation has also been documented in studies such as the 2012 SANHANES study and the South African cross-sectional study on HIV positive educators which suggest that urban living leads to easy access to unhealthy diets and a sedentary lifestyle [34, 35]. In 2008 and 2017, we further see that those who had primary education and below also had a high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes as supported by Ntuli et al. [43]. Wang et al. suggest that not only an unhealthy diet but even a lack of regular and effective physical exercise and higher alcohol intake can be correlated with low levels of schooling [44]. The presence of comorbidities was also evident with higher proportions of individuals with cancer, heart disease, TB and mental distress reporting having hypertension and diabetes. This is consistent with studies which observed similar findings globally and in Africa [34, 45‐47]. This could mean that PLHIV who have a comorbidity require close monitoring to ensure that their health conditions are effectively managed thereby reducing the risk of acquiring more NCDs.

Factors that increased the odds of hypertension for all 3 years in our study included being female, aged 45 years and older, or having diabetes. Antonello et al., Malaza et al., and Zungu et al. suggest that increased odds in females were mainly attributed to women having higher BMI’s and hip to weight ratios than men and women being more physically inactive, all of which are considered risk factors [35, 41, 48]. Ageing has also been well described to result in gradual vascular stiffening and the prolonged use of ART particularly protease inhibitors is related to the production of vascular reactive oxygen species resulting in hypertension [17, 23, 24]. While diabetes has been suggested by Petrie et al., and Gazzaruso et al. to result from hypertension-linked insulin resistance due to multiple pathophysiological mechanisms influencing microvascular and endothelial functioning [24, 25]. Mental distress also increased the odds of having high blood pressure in 2005. An American study found that one’s mental health affects one’s ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle, seek early treatment for comorbid conditions, or consistently adhere to treatment programs [45]. Living in an urban area was another significant factor associated with hypertension in 2008 and 2017. Findings from previous studies suggest that urbanisation and the associated lifestyle change including poor diet and low physical activity are risk factors of hypertension [49]. While having a high risk of hazardous alcohol consumption or having heart disease were also additional associated factors for hypertension found in 2017. In Zimbabwean and Brazilian studies alcohol consumption increased the risk of hypertension, however, there have been several hypotheses proposed for this association [50, 51]. Some researchers have to an extent been able to characterize the pathogenesis due to harmful alcohol drinking, citing that a reduction in vasodilators like nitric oxide occurs leading to an inflammatory lack of relaxation and oxidative injury of the blood vessel lining [52]. Other researchers have suggested the link between harmful alcohol consumption and the eventual accumulation of triglycerides and total cholesterol, both of which have been documented to have a link to hypertension [53]. In addition, according to the WHO, heart disease can result from hypertension in the general population [54]. Hypertension and diabetes have long been documented to be a major modifiable risk factor for heart disease due to the progressive damage to the heart that occurs over time [55, 56]. Lastly, in 2017, the employment category “other” which included pensioners, sick and disabled people, was also associated with hypertension. The reasoning for this includes that pensioners are presumably older hence the effect of age may have attributed to this finding; also, sick and disabled people are more likely to be non-mobile and be physically inactive both of which again are characteristics that have been documented to increase the risk of hypertension.

The common significant factor associated with diabetes across the years was having hypertension and the supporting reasons and studies are identical to those mentioned above. In 2008 other additional factors included being 45 years and above and having heart disease; both established risk factors in other studies [49]. In 2017, being 45 years and above, and reporting poor health was significantly associated with diabetes in the study population. Also, having secondary and above education level lowered one’s odds of having diabetes. Other studies with a similar finding reported that education increased awareness and therefore the individuals were more likely to make better health-related decisions [18]. The above findings from our study, thus, offer various avenues for possible interventions which may include active awareness campaigns targeted at men, those who have educational qualifications below secondary level or those residing in urban areas. Also, as the HIV population is ageing, closely monitoring the impact of antiretroviral medication could be considered. Lastly, these findings could allow for the refinement of the integrated chronic care model allowing for increased case finding.

Population-based nationally representative surveys are important for developing sound health decisions and policies that would affect the country. This study identified factors consistently associated with the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among ALHIV overtime. Additional contemporary risk factors were also identified. Therefore, these findings contribute to understanding the trend and identifying modifiable factors responsible for hypertension and diabetes among ALHIV adults from 2005 to 2017. This may help inform the development of integrated chronic disease management model to reduce the co-morbid burden of disease and associated adverse health outcomes.