Multimorbidity and Complex Multimorbidity in India: Findings from the 2017–2018 Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI)

Abhinav Sinha, Sushmita Kerketta, Shishirendu Ghosal, Srikanta Kanungo, John Tayu Lee and Sanghamitra Pati
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Abhinav Sinha: ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, India
Sushmita Kerketta: ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, India
Shishirendu Ghosal: ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, India
Srikanta Kanungo: ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, India
John Tayu Lee: The Nossal Institute for Global Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
Sanghamitra Pati: ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar 751023, India

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: Complex multimorbidity refers to the co-occurrence of three or more chronic illnesses across >2 body systems, which may identify persons in need of additional medical support and treatment. There is a scarcity of evidence on the differences in patient outcomes between non-complex (≥2 conditions) and complex multimorbidity groups. We evaluated the prevalence and patient outcomes of complex multimorbidity and compared them to non-complex multimorbidity. We included 30,489 multimorbid individuals aged ≥45 years from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) from wave-1 conducted in 2017–2018. We employed a log link in generalised linear models (GLM) to identify possible risk factors presenting the adjusted prevalence–risk ratio (APRR) and adjusted prevalence–risk difference (APRD) with 95% confidence interval. The prevalence of complex multimorbidity was 34.5% among multimorbid individuals. Participants residing in urban areas [APRR: 1.10 (1.02, 1.20)], [APRD: 0.04 (0.006, 0.07)] were more likely to report complex multimorbidity. Participants with complex multimorbidity availed significantly higher inpatient department services and had higher expenditure as compared to the non-complex multimorbidity group. Our findings have major implications for healthcare systems in terms of meeting the requirements of people with complicated multimorbidity, as they have significantly higher inpatient health service utilisation, higher medical costs, and poorer self-rated health.

Keywords: multimorbidity; complex multimorbidity; ageing; LASI; India (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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