Prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) are increasingly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), underscoring the need to understand the existing public health burden. This would guide future policy strategies and interventions to mitigate the challenges posed. The aim of this systematic review was to provide a comprehensive overview of CMDs prevalence in SSA. A PRISMA 2020 compliant systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and The Cochrane Library up to December 2024, including population-based studies with ≥100 participants, aged ≥15 years, and reporting CMDs prevalence in SSA. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted for prevalence, and meta-regression, for temporal trends, evaluated using the median data collection year. Overall, 266 unique studies of 846,511 participants were included; Ethiopia (n = 53), Nigeria (n = 36) and Ghana (n = 20) represented the most studies. Prevalences for the most widely studied condition included type 2 diabetes (T2D) (6.1%; 95% CI = 5.3–7.0), hypertension (27.1%; 95% CI = 25.5–28.8), stroke (1.4%; 95% CI = 1.0–2.0), hypercholesterolemia (11.3%; 95% CI = 7.4–17.0) and cardiovascular diseases (4.8%; 95% CI = 2.5–8.9). The temporal prevalence of hypertension and T2D between 2006 and 2014 showed no statistical significance (β = –0.0289 per year; p = 0.11) and (β = 0.0131 per year; p = 0.49), respectively. For stroke, a statistically significant temporal decline was observed beginning 2010 (β = b–0.1244 per year; p < 0.001). This systematic review reveals a substantial public health burden of CMDs in SSA. The high prevalence emphasises the need for targeted CMDs preventative care strategies in SSA. Notably, most studies were from Ethiopia and Nigeria, indicating the need for more research in other SSA countries for a comprehensive understanding of CMDs in the region.