Prevalence and risk factors for diabetes mellitus among adults in Ghana: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background The prevalence and risk factors for diabetes in Ghana vary from location to location, yet no study has been conducted to quantitatively synthesize the available studies. Methods The authors conducted a comprehensive literature search in Medline (PubMed), Embase, Cinahl, Web of Science, Scopus, African journals and grey literature. Two reviewers screened the articles for relevance, identified and selected studies based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Methodological quality was independently assessed, using two validated assessment-of-bias tools. We explored study heterogeneity and performed a publication bias check. Results This search yielded a total of 624 articles, of which 17 studies were finally selected for the qualitative review and 12 studies included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence of diabetes mellitus among adult Ghanaians was high at 6.46% (95% CI: 4.66-8.26%) based on the inverse-variance random-effects model. Significant risk factors associated with diabetes were a family history of diabetes (OR: 3.46, 95% CI: 2.50-4.78), physical inactivity (OR: 3.06, 95% CI: 1.66-5.64) and age 40 years (OR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.77-3.16). Conclusion Studies with high methodological quality provided sufficient evidence about diabetes prevalence among adults and the associated significant risk factors in Ghana.