Non-Communicable Diseases and Health Indices of Adolescents in Jamaica: A National Perspective

Abstract

Introduction: Of all human deaths in the world, in 2008, 63 percent are owing to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) of which 80 percent are in developing countries. In Jamaica for 2008, 50 percent of deaths occur to NCDs, especially among women and older people. The adolescence period is rarely seen for it contributory role to NCDs, which is the rationale for few research in the area among this cohort in English-speaking Caribbean. This study fills the gap in the literature by examining NCDs among adolescents. Objectives: The objectives are to examine the adolescence period as it relates to NCDs, evaluate health indices in this period and determine the prevalance of NCDs as well as disaggregate NCDs by socio-demographic characteristics. Materials and methods: A sample of 1,394 respondents ages 10 to 19 years from a national probability survey is used for this study. The data are taken from the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, which is a modification of the World Bank's Household Living Standards Survey. Results: The prevalence rate for NCDs among adolescents in Jamaica is 2.7 percent, 7 percent report having an illness and among those with an illness, 48.7 percent have NCDs (diabetes, 4.0 percent; hypertension, 1.3; Other NCDs, 43.4 percent). Diabetes begins in middle adolescence among poor rural females and hypertension starts in late adolescent among affluent urban females. Conclusion: The findings herein warrant public health interventions that are specialized to the sociodemographic and health realities of adolescents.