Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 2014, 4, 133-140 Published Online May 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jdm http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jdm.2014.42020 How to cite this paper: Sayeed, M.A., et al. (2014) Diabetes and Hypertension in a Santhal Tribe in Bangladesh: A Popula- tion Based Study. Journal of Diabetes Mellitus, 4, 133-140. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jdm.2014.42020 Diabetes and Hypertension in a Santhal Tribe in Bangladesh: A Population Based Study M. Abu Sayeed 1* , Parvin Akter Khanam 2 , Muhammad Tofazzal Hussain 1 , Mir Masudur Rhaman 1 , Shurovi Sayeed 3 , Tanjima Begum 2 , M. Abu Hana Golam Morshed 2 , Akhter Banu 3 1 Department of Community Medicine, Ibrahim Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh 2 Department of Epidemiology, BIRDEM, Dhaka, Bangladesh 3 Institute of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh Email: * sayeed1950@gmail.com Received 17 April 2014; revised 10 May 2014; accepted 18 May 2014 Copyright © 2014 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract BACKGROUND: Santhal (Santals) tribe is one of the oldest and largest aboriginal pre Aryan popu- lations in India and Bangladesh. There was no published report on the prevalence of diabetes and hypertension. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension in a Santhal tribe of Bangladesh. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Eight villages inhabited largely by Santhal tribe were purposively selected. All Santhals aged 20 years or more were considered eligible and enlisted for the study. Investigations included socio-demographic information (age, sex, education, income), clinical history (general illness), anthropometry (height, weight, waist-girth, hip-girth) and blood pressure. Body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ration (WHR) were calculated. Blood samples were collected for fasting plasma glucose (FPG), total cho- lesterol (Chol), triglycerides (TG), urea and creatinine. RESULTS: Thirteen hundred eligible San- thals were enlisted. Of them, 1049 (80.7%) participated in the study. The male and female partic- ipants were 40% and 60%, respectively. The prevalence of T2DM was 0.6% and hyperglycemia (FPG > 5.5 mmol/l) was 10.0%. The prevalence of systolic hypertension (sHTN) was 24.4% and diastolic hypertension (dHTN) was 24.6%. Compared with the males the females had significantly higher prevalence of sHTN (OR, 2.20 with 95% CI, 1.62 - 3.02) and dHTN (OR, 1.81 with CI, 1.34 - 2.0); whereas, the prevalence of T2DM and IFG did not differ. Regarding obesity 45% of the par- ticipants had BMI < 18.5 and only 5% had BMI > 23.1. Logistic regression estimated that the in- creasing age, female sex, higher FPG (>5.5 mmol/l) and higher Chol (>160 mg/dl) had indepen- dent risk for sHTN and dHTN. CONCLUSIONS: The Santhals had less risk for diabetes but increased risk for hypertension. The Santhal females had excess risk of hypertension. Advancing age, female * Corresponding author.