The prevalence and determinants of behavioral risk factors of non-communicable diseases among a selected slum population in Bangladesh

Low and middle income countries and also the underprivileged population both are susceptible for the increased burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the practice of their behavioral risk factors (BRFs) is the main cause. However, these BRFs and their determinants among the slum population of Bangladesh weren’t adequately evaluated. The present study was carried out with the aim to find out the prevalence and determinants of BRFs of NCDs among a selected slum population in Bangladesh.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in purposively selected Rayerbazar slum of Dhaka city, Bangladesh, in 2017. A total of 192 adult (aged 18 to 65 years) residents were enrolled in this study using the convenient sampling method. A semi-structured questionnaire, adopted version of World Health Organization (WHO) STEPS instrument was used for data collection. Ascertainments of the risk factors were conducted as per the WHO STEPS guideline. Both descriptive and multivariate statistics were performed using the SPSS software.

The majority of the respondents (72.4%) were men, and the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of the ages was 37.0 ± 13.6 years. Half (50%) of the respondents were tobacco users. Almost all (98.4%) reported insufficient fruit and vegetables (FAVs) intake. Almost 7 out of 10 (67.7%) of the respondents reported to perform inadequate level of physical activity (PA). However, very negligible (2.6%) proportion of the respondents reported alcohol consumption. The group of the respondents with the age above the mean age (≥ 35 years) reported higher use of tobacco whereas, the group of the respondents with the age below the mean age (< 35 years) reported a higher level of inadequacy of PA.

BRFs of NCDs were substantial among the selected slum population of Bangladesh, where age was the major determinant. Health promotion and health education measures are recommended for slum population of Bangladesh to aware them of the BRFs of NCDs.