Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and vulnerability to COVID-19: The case of adult patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus in Gamo, Gofa, and South Omo zones in Southern Ethiopia

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 1; p. e0262642
• Main Authors: Bojola, Fikre, Taye, Wondimagegn, Samuel, Habtamu, Mulatu, Bahiru, Kawza, Aknaw, Mekuria, Aleme
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.01.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Care and treatment; Communicable Disease Control - statistics & numerical data; Complications and side effects; Confidence intervals; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 - psychology; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetes Mellitus - epidemiology; Dimensional analysis; Earth Sciences; Ethiopia; Fatalities; Female; Fever; Health behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health literacy; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - epidemiology; Income; Independent variables; Infection control; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Mortality; Pandemics; People and Places; Public health; Random sampling; Regression analysis; Sampling techniques; Social Sciences; Statistical analysis; Statistical sampling; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Viral diseases; Viruses; Ethiopia; China; Addis Ababa Ethiopia
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262642
• ISSN: 1932-6203

A growing body of evidence demonstrating that individuals with Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) are more likely to have severe forms of COVID-19 and subsequent mortality. Hence, our study aimed to assess the knowledge of vulnerability and preventive practices towards COVID-19 among patients with hypertension or diabetes in Southern Ethiopia. To assess the knowledge and preventive practices towards COVID-19 among patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus in three zones of Southern Ethiopia, 2020. A community-based cross-sectional study design was used with a multi-stage random sampling technique to select 682 patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus from 10th -17th July 2020 at the three zones of Southern Ethiopia. Logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval was fitted to identify independent predictors of knowledge and preventive practices towards COVID-19. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was used to determine the magnitude of the association between the outcome and independent variables. P-value <0.05 is considered statistically significant. The Multi-dimensional knowledge (MDK) analysis of COVID-19 revealed that 63% of study subjects had good knowledge about COVID-19. The overall preventive practice towards COVID -19 was 26.4%. Monthly income (AOR = 1.42; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.94) significantly predicted knowledge towards COVID-19. Ninety-five percent of the study subjects knew that the COVID-19 virus spreads via respiratory droplets of infected individuals. One hundred and ten (16.2%) of study subjects correctly responded to the questions that state whether people with the COVID-19 virus who do not have a fever can infect the other. Knowledge about COVID-19 (AOR = 1.47; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.1) became the independent predictor of preventive practice. In this study, the knowledge of the respondents towards the COVID-19 pandemic was good. But the preventive practice was very low. There was a significant gap between knowledge and preventive practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic among the study subjects. Monthly income was significantly associated with knowledge of COVID-19. Knowledge of COVID-19 was found to be an independent predictor of preventive practice towards COVID-19. Community mobilization and improving COVID-19- related knowledge and practice are urgently recommended for those patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus.