Multimorbidity among Two Million Adults in China

Xiaowen Wang, Shanshan Yao, Mengying Wang, Guiying Cao, Zishuo Chen, Ziting Huang, Yao Wu, Ling Han, Beibei Xu and Yonghua Hu
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Xiaowen Wang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Shanshan Yao: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Mengying Wang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Guiying Cao: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Zishuo Chen: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Ziting Huang: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Yao Wu: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Ling Han: Department of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
Beibei Xu: Medical Informatics Center, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
Yonghua Hu: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: To explore the multimorbidity prevalence and patterns among middle-aged and older adults from China. Data on thirteen chronic diseases were collected from 2,097,150 participants aged over 45 years between January 1st 2011 and December 31st 2015 from Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees. Association rule mining and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied to assess multimorbidity patterns. Multimorbidity prevalence was 51.6% and 81.3% in the middle-aged and older groups, respectively. The most prevalent disease pair was that of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (OARA) with hypertension (HT) (middle-aged: 22.5%; older: 41.8%). Ischaemic heart disease (IHD), HT, and OARA constituted the most common triad combination (middle-aged: 11.0%; older: 31.2%). Among the middle-aged group, the strongest associations were found in a combination of cerebrovascular disease (CBD), OARA, and HT with IHD in males (lift = 3.49), and CBD, OARA, and COPD with IHD in females (lift = 3.24). Among older patients, glaucoma and cataracts in females (lift = 2.95), and IHD, OARA, and glaucoma combined with cataracts in males (lift = 2.45) were observed. Visual impairment clusters, a mixed cluster of OARA, IHD, COPD, and cardiometabolic clusters were detected. Multimorbidity is prevalent among middle-aged and older Chinese individuals. The observations of multimorbidity patterns have implications for improving preventive care and developing appropriate guidelines for morbidity treatment.

Keywords: multimorbidity; prevalence; pattern; chronic diseases; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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