Noncommunicable Disease Syndemic Among the General Population in Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study Publisher



Torabi Z¹ ; Farzadfar F² ; Rezaei N² ; Singer M³ ; Roshani S⁴ ; Tajvar M⁵ ; Shakibazadeh E¹
Source: Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Published:2025

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the status of the NCD syndemic among individuals over 25 in all provinces of Iran. Methods: This study was based on a national survey. Using a systematic cluster random sampling framework, 26,707 participants were selected from all 31 Iranian provinces. The data were analyzed for descriptive statistics by gender and age, followed by principal component analysis and logistic regression, using R software for the statistical analysis. Results: There was an interaction between diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, in their association with healthy life lost due to disability in the Iranian adult population. Additionally, there was a clustering of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, partly due to the shared specific causes such as obesity, hypertension, shared baseline features, and poverty. Conclusions: The syndemic analysis showed that social inequalities in diabetes and cardiovascular disease arise not only from exposure levels but also from varying vulnerabilities and disease outcomes. Iran’s health policy should prioritize reducing these health inequalities. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2025.