Modeling the Socio-economic Factors of Type 2 Diabetes among Outpatients of some Selected Hospitals in Tamale, Ghana

Type 2 diabetes is among the most significant and quickly spreading public health challenges in today's society. Type 2 diabetes is becoming an epidemic and poses an increasing threat to world health due to cultural and societal changes, as well as the aging population in developing countries. The study seeks to model the socioeconomic factors of Type 2 diabetes among outpatients in Tamale, Ghana using proportional odds model. A total of 1,203 type 2 diabetes cases were obtained for this study; comprising 300 cases from SDA Hospital, 271 from Kabsad Hospital and 632 cases from Tamale Teaching Hospital. Findings show that age, occupation, residence and gender of patients are the socio-economic factors associated with Type 2 diabetes. The study further revealed that the proportional odds model has good diagnostic accuracy as the classification accuracy was above 60%. The study recommends that healthcare professionals work with dieticians, fitness experts, and mental health specialists to create individualized programs that take the patients' socioeconomic situation into account.