Hypertension is leading condition in urban hospital-based NCD profiling and surveillance in Mozambique

A recent study examined the adaptation of data collection tools for non-communicable disease (NCD) occurrence, profiling and facility-based surveillance in Maputo, Mozambique. The research was conducted at Mavalane General Hospital, a first referral facility. Selected conditions were included in the analysis: diabetes, stroke, arterial hypertension, cancers, chronic respiratory illnesses, and mental illnesses (depression, epilepsy, psychosis, and alcohol abuse). 

The results showed that 6423 out of 89, 381 new patient consultations resulted in a primary diagnosis of at least one of the selected NCDs. The results demonstrated that hypertension lead in prevalence (37%) . Mental illness and asthma represented approximately 23.30% and 23.28% of the NCDs diagnosed, respectively. Asthma was the biggest burden among children 0 - 17 years, and in the > 65 years age group hypertension was most prominent. A gendered distribution of alcohol abuse was found, with the condition more prevalent in males (66.1%) than in females (33.9%). For full details about this research, read the full study here