Gender Differences in Dietary Behaviours, Health-Related Habits and Prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study in Botswana

Abstract

\n Background\n\nThere is scanty information regarding sex or gender differences in health-related habits, NCD risk factors, and prevalence of NCDs in Botswana. The purpose of this study is to assess the influence of gender differences on health-related habits, weight status, common NCD risk factors, and on the prevalence of non-communicable diseases.\nMethods\n\nA cross-sectional, population-based survey called the Botswana STEPS Survey II which was conducted in 2014 based on people aged 15–64 years. The survey used a multi-stage cluster sampling methodology to arrive at nationally representative sample. As such during analysis of data, a complex sample module from SPSS was adopted to account for the multiple stages of sampling. The predicted probabilities of outcome variables were derived by controlling the covariates. A total sample size of 2947 participants aged 25–64 years were used in this study.\nResults\n\nThe study results showed that a statistically significant high predicted percentage of men compared to women smoked tobacco (34.4%, 95% CI: 33.5–35.1 vs. 4.4%, 95% CI: 4.3–4.5). Men were also consistently engaging in heavy alcohol use and low consumption of fruit and/or vegetables, and these differences were statistically significant. On the other, physical inactivity among women was higher than men. Controlling other covariates, a higher predicted probability of women than men were overweight (28.7%, 95% CI: 28.6–28.8 vs. 18.3%, 95% CI: 18.0-18.6) and obese (25.8%, 95% CI: 25.4–26.2 vs. 10.2%, 95% CI: 9.9–10.5). Women are at the greater risk of developing NCDs compared to men since the adjusted prevalence of at least 3 common risk factors were more among women than men. A higher adjusted predicted prevalence of women than men suffered from hypertension (39.4%, 95% CI: 38.9–40.0 vs. 26.1%, 95% CI: 25.5–26.8).\nConclusions\n\nOverall, the study observed that there were gender differences in health-related habits, malnutrition, NCD risk factors and NCD prevalence. Appropriate policies and programmes need to be adopted in order to urgently address the problem of NCDs.