Characterizing Multimorbidity Prevalence and Adverse Outcomes in Ethnically and Culturally Diverse Sub-Populations in India: Gaps, Opportunities, and Future Directions

Preeti Zanwar, Robyn Taylor, Tanisha G. Hill-Jarrett, Elena Tsoy, Jason D. Flatt, Zunera Mirza, Carl V. Hill and Arokiasamy Perianayagam
Additional contact information
Robyn Taylor: National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, Decatur, GA 30030, USA
Tanisha G. Hill-Jarrett: Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Elena Tsoy: Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
Jason D. Flatt: School of Public Health, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA
Zunera Mirza: National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, Decatur, GA 30030, USA
Carl V. Hill: Alzheimer’s Association, Chicago, IL 60601, USA
Arokiasamy Perianayagam: Social and Economic Survey Research Institute, Qatar University, Doha P.O. Box 2713, Qatar

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: India is a large middle-income country and has surpassed China in overall population, comprising 20% of the global population (over 1.43 billion people). India is experiencing a major demographic shift in its aging population. Chronic diseases are common among older adults and can be persistent over the life course, lead to the onset of disability, and be costly. Among older adults in India, the existence of multiple comorbid chronic conditions (i.e., multimorbidity) is rapidly growing and represents a burgeoning public health burden. Prior research identified greater rates of multimorbidity (e.g., overweight/obesity diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and malignancies) in minority populations in the United States (U.S.); however, limited studies have attempted to characterize multimorbidity among older adult sub-populations residing in India. To address this gap, we conducted a narrative review of studies on multimorbidity using the data from the Longitudinal Aging Study of India (LASI), the largest nationally representative longitudinal survey study of adults in India. Our definition of multimorbidity was the presence of more than two conditions in the same person. Our findings, based on 15 reviewed studies, aim to (1) characterize the definition and measurement of multimorbidity and to ascertain its prevalence in ethnically and culturally diverse sub-populations in India; (2) identify adverse outcomes associated with multimorbidity in the Indian adult population; and (3) identify gaps, opportunities, and future directions.

Keywords: multimorbidity; India; LASI; older adults; chronic disease; non-communicable diseases (NCDs) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/327/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/3/327/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:3:p:327-:d:1355107

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().