ABSTRACT

This work examines the prevalence of hyperglycemia among adults living in Ikwuano Local Government of Abia State. The increasing burden of diabetes is one of the most prominent threats to the health of populations of developed and developing countries, which has led to this study. Access to cheap energy dense foods, adoption of sedentary life styles and lack of physical activities have raised concerns about the sudden emergence of diabetes in the world. This study was conducted in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State using ninety-three random adults (20-50years) to access the prevalence of hyperglycemia. The random method of assessing blood glucose using finger prick blood samples were analyzed for blood glucose level using Accu-Chek glucometer. Socio-economic characteristics, feeding habit, health status, glucose level and physical activities were computed using statistical frequency and percentage, correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between socio-economic status, feeding habit, physical activity and blood glucose level of the respondents, while significance was accepted at p<0.01. The result of socio-economic characteristics revealed that the population is made up of 56 males and 37 females. Ninety five percent of the populations were Christians while four percent were Muslims. Their educational status ranged from no formal education to tertiary education of which greater percentage (71%) had tertiary education while 5.4% had received no formal education. The result of blood glucose level revealed that normal glucose level of 70-120 mg/dL was obtained for 94.6% of the respondents, 4.3% were on bother line glucose level (121-180 mg/dL) while only a percentage of the population recorded glucose level above 200 mg/dL. This result showed that hyperglycemia is not prevalent in Ikwuano LGA of Abia State with respect to the blood glucose level of respondents examined.