Author(s)

Natalia Romero-Sandoval^1,2*, S. Ramiro Canelos³, Héctor Javier Sánchez-Pérez^2,4, Ricardo Romero⁵, Fernando Cornejo⁶, Miguel Martín-Mateo^1,2,7

¹Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, de la Salud y de la Vida, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
²Grups de Reserca d’Amèrica i àfrica Llatines-GRAAL, Cerdanyola del Vallés, España.
³Facultad de Ciencias Administrativas, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador.
⁴El Colegio de la Frontera Sur-ECOSUR, San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, México.
⁵Instituto Geográfico Militar, Seniergues E4-676 y Gral. Telmo Paz y Miño, Quito, Ecuador.
⁶Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial, Bourgeois, Quito, Ecuador.
⁷Unidad de Bioestadística, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Barcelona, Spain.

Objective: To determine associations between standardized prevalence ratios of Metabolic Syndrome (MS), High Blood Pressure (HBP), and Obesity (O) with structural factors in ecuadorian population aged 20 to 59. Methods: An ecological study was conducted through data from the Ecuador’s National Health and Nutrition Survey 2013-2014, and National Census. Standardized prevalence ratio (SPR) variability was analyzed with Poisson multiple regression models (adjusted Relative Risk). Results: The SPR variability for the three diseases was associated with non-affiliation to social security, and inversely related to lower urbanization. HBP and O were associated with functional illiteracy and higher rates of primary care physicians/1000 inhabitants. HBP and MS were related to poor housing. Conclusions: Policies of non-communicable chronic diseases control in ecological transition countries need to take structural variations into account.

Chronic Illness, Social Inequality, Statistical Analysis, Policy Process, Ecuador

Romero-Sandoval, N. , Canelos, S. , Sánchez-Pérez, H. , Romero, R. , Cornejo, F. and Martín-Mateo, M. (2020) Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases and Structural Indicators in an Epidemiological Transition Country. Open Journal of Epidemiology, 10, 32-42. doi: 10.4236/ojepi.2020.101003.