Table 1.

Cardiovascular risk factors prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to high-income countries and worldwide.

CVD risk factor	SSA	Western Europe	North America	Global
Smoking in ≥15 years of age [13,26,27]	– Total 10% – Males 18% – Females 2.3%	Total 30% – Males 38% – Females 21%	Total 14–21% – Males 16–24% – Females 11–18%	Total 15% – Males 25% – Females 5%
Hypertension in adults ≥18 years old [28,29,30]	– 30s%* – <40% are aware of their diagnosis – <35% on treatment – <10–20% controlled HTN	– 20s%* – 60–70% aware of their diagnosis – 50% on treatment – 30–40% controlled HTN	– 20s%* – >80% aware of their diagnosis – >70% on treatment – 55–66% controlled HTN	– Men 24%* – Women 20%*
Diabetes Mellitus [2,25,31]	GBD (all ages): – Total 3.5% – Men 3.7% – Women 3.3%	GBD (all ages): – Total 10.2% – Men 11.1% – Women 9.3%	GBD (all ages): – Total 9.9% – Men 10.9% – Women 8.9%	GBD (all ages): – Total 6.5% – Men 6.7% – Women 6.2%
	NCD RFC ≥ 18 years old: – Men 7.1% – Women 7.1%	NCD RFC ≥ 18 years old: – Men 6–8% – Women 3–6%	NCD RFC ≥ 18 years old: – Men 6–8% – Women 5–6%	NCD RFC ≥18 years old: – Total 8.5% – Men 9.0% – Women 7.9%
Hyperlipidaemia ≥18–≥20 years old [32,33,34,35,36,37]	– Total 25% – High risk ~ 40%	– Total 40–60% – High risk ~ 70%	– Total 40–45 % – High risk ~ 70%	– Total 39% – Men 37% – Women 40%
Physical inactivity [38,39,40]	– Total 22% – Men 18% – Women 26%	– Total 29% – Men 26% – Women 32%	– Total 30–40 % – Men 25–31% – Women 31–41%	– Total 27% – Men 23% – Women 32%
Obesity [34,41,42]	– Men 1–15% – Women 2–40%	– Men 12–22% – Women 18–25%	– Men 20–30% – Women 21–35%	– 12% of all adults

* Age-standardised prevalence; SSA: Sub-Saharan Africa; GBD: Global Burden of Disease (2017); HTN: hypertension; NCD RFC: Non-communicable disease Risk Factor Collaboration systematic review (2014). North America here is USA & Canada.