Profile of risk factors for noncommunicable diseases in major cities of Afghanistan: WHO STEPwise approach.

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health problem worldwide. Despite improvement in the health situation, Afghanistan's health indicators are the worst in the Region. About 37% of Afghan adults die due to NCDs.

Aims: We aimed to estimate the proportion of major risk factors for NCDs in Afghanistan.

Methods: We analysed the dataset of studies conducted in 5 provinces, Kabul, Balkh, Hirat, Nangarhar and Kandahar, during 2013-2015, using the WHO STEPwise approach to NCD surveillance. This involved multistage cluster sampling from urban citizens aged 25-70 years. EpiInfo, version 7, and SPSS, version 20, were used for data management.

Results: In total, 5897 records were included in the analysis; 54% were females. Mean age was 39.56 (standard deviation12.29) years; illiteracy rate was 61.5% and 83.2% were married. Smoking and snuff use was 8% and 11.1% respectively. On average the subjects were consuming fruits 2.76 and vegetable 3.85 days per week. Overweight, general and abdominal obesity was 19%, 33.7% and 57.1% respectively. Typically, 32.4% had high blood pressure and 12.5% had high blood sugar.

Conclusions: The modifiable risk factors of NCDs were prevalent in the major cities of the country. Their identification is vital in attempting to focus on prevalence of NCDs in urban cities. Tailored interventions are needed to focus on NCDs in Afghanistan.