International Institute for Population Sciences, Govandi Station Road, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Department of Survey Research and Data Analytics, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
J Public Health Policy. 2022 Mar;43(1):109-128. doi: 10.1057/s41271-021-00321-x. Epub 2022 Jan 8.
Escalating non-communicable disease multimorbidity rates among older adults is an emerging public health concern in India, but the literature sparsely addresses the epidemiology of multimorbidity. We explore levels, patterns, combinations and predictors of multimorbidity among older adults using information on 59,764 individuals, aged 45 years and older, from the first wave of Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), 2017-2018. We computed multimorbidity score for sixteen non-communicable diseases to identify frequently occurring morbidity patterns (dyads and triads) and assess the relationship between multimorbidity and selected background characteristics. Near third of the older adult population is affected by multimorbidity, with hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes and skin diseases being the most common. Policymakers should seek strategies to increase early detection and prevention of chronic diseases, delay the age at onset of disease for those who are not affected and improve management for those affected with multiple disease conditions.
在印度，老年人群中非传染性疾病多病共存率不断上升，成为一个新的公共卫生关注点，但相关文献对多病共存的流行病学情况却鲜有涉及。我们利用 2017-2018 年印度首次纵向老龄化研究（LASI）中 59764 名 45 岁及以上人群的数据，探讨了老年人群中多病共存的水平、模式、组合和预测因素。我们计算了 16 种非传染性疾病的多病共存评分，以确定常见的发病模式（双病和三病），并评估多病共存与选定背景特征之间的关系。近三分之一的老年人口患有多病共存，其中高血压、胃肠道疾病、肌肉骨骼疾病、糖尿病和皮肤病最为常见。政策制定者应寻求策略，增加对慢性疾病的早期检测和预防，延迟未患病者的发病年龄，并改善多疾病患者的管理。
