Table 1.
Background characteristics of the study population aged 18 and older from BDHS 2017–2018 data (N=11 881)
| Variables | Frequency (%) |
| Age group (in years) | |
| 18–34 | 5188 (43.7) |
| 35–64 | 5535 (46.6) |
| 65+ | 1158 (9.7) |
| Sex | |
| Male | 5241 (44.1) |
| Female | 6640 (55.9) |
| Marital status | |
| Unmarried | 1264 (10.6) |
| Ever married | 10 617 (89.4) |
| Education | |
| No education | 3032 (25.5) |
| Primary education | 3592 (30.2) |
| Secondary education | 3392 (28.5) |
| Higher education | 1865 (15.7) |
| Working status | |
| No | 4401 (37.0) |
| Yes | 7480 (63.0) |
| Wealth index | |
| Poorest | 2314 (19.5) |
| Poorer | 2250 (18.9) |
| Middle | 2353 (19.8) |
| Richer | 2325 (19.6) |
| Richest | 2639 (22.2) |
| Place of residence | |
| Urban | 4248 (35.8) |
| Rural | 7633 (64.2) |
| Division of residence | |
| Barisal | 1234 (10.4) |
| Chittagong | 1602 (13.5) |
| Dhaka | 1540 (13.0) |
| Khulna | 1650 (13.9) |
| Mymensingh | 1347 (11.3) |
| Rajshahi | 1565 (13.2) |
| Rangpur | 1539 (13.0) |
| Sylhet | 1404 (11.8) |
| Body mass index | |
| Normal or underweight | 9005 (75.8) |
| Overweight | 2386 (20.1) |
| Obesity | 490 (4.1) |
| Hypertension status* | |
| No | 8489 (71.5) |
| Yes | 3392 (28.5) |
| Diabetes status† | |
| No | 10 708 (90.1) |
| Yes | 1173 (9.9) |
| Comorbidity‡ | |
| No | 11 322 (95.3) |
| Yes | 559 (4.7) |
*An individual is classified as having hypertension if s/he has an average blood pressure level of ≥140 mm Hg SBP or ≥90 mm Hg DBP, or she/he is currently taking antihypertensive medication to lower blood pressure.
†An individual is classified as having diabetes if she/he reports taking medication for diabetes or has a fasting blood glucose of ≥7.0 mmol/L.
‡Comorbidity is defined as the presence of both hypertension and diabetes.
BDHS, Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; SBP, systolic blood pressure.