An assessment of non-communicable disease mortality among adults in Eastern Uganda, 2010-2016.

Background: There is a dearth of studies assessing non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality within population-based settings in Uganda. We assessed mortality due to major NCDs among persons ≥ 30 years in Eastern Uganda from 2010 to 2016.

Methods: The study was carried out at the Iganga-Mayuge health and demographic surveillance site in the Iganga and Mayuge districts of Eastern Uganda. Information on cause of death was obtained through verbal autopsies using a structured questionnaire to conduct face-face interviews with carers or close relatives of the deceased. Physicians assigned likely cause of death using ICD-10 codes. Age-adjusted mortality rates were calculated using direct method, with the average population across the seven years of the study (2010 to 2016) as the standard. Age categories of 30-40, 41-50, 51-60, 61-70, and ≥ 71 years were used for standardization.

Results: A total of 1,210 deaths among persons ≥ 30 years old were reported from 2010 to 2016 (50.7% among women). Approximately 53% of all deaths were due to non-communicable diseases, 31.8% due to communicable diseases, 8.2% due to injuries, and 7% due to maternal-related deaths or undetermined causes. Cardiovascular diseases accounted for the largest proportion of NCD deaths in each year, and women had substantially higher cardiovascular disease mortality rates compared to men. Conversely, women had lower diabetes mortality rates than men for five of the seven years examined.

Conclusions: Non-communicable diseases are major causes of death among adults in Iganga and Mayuge; and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are leading causes of NCD deaths. Efforts are needed to tackle NCD risk factors and provide NCD care to reduce associated burden and premature mortality.