Socioeconomic, Health Services, and Multimorbidity Disparities in Chinese Older Adults

Abstract

IntroductionAs one of the world's most populous countries, China persistently confronts a significant multimorbidity burden. This study aimed to elucidate the multimorbidity burden experienced by Chinese older adults, explore its interplay with socioeconomic disparity, and investigate potential correlations between these provincial disparities and health services availability. MethodsThe fourth wave of China's national Urban and Rural Elderly Population study, conducted in 2015, was used to construct a multimorbidity index (MHI) and elucidate the geographical differences in the multimorbidity burden. Incorporating macro-level indicators about socioeconomic and health services availability, quantile regression and spearman correlation analyses were employed to investigate the relationship between multimorbidity and socioeconomic disparities, and examine the potential linkages between these provincial disparities and health services availability. Analyses were performed in 2023. ResultsFinal analysis included a total of 213,857 older adults. At the provincial level, significant geographic disparities in multimorbidity burden were identified. After adjusting for individual social determinants of health, an independent association was found between the human development index (HDI) and a higher MHI [coefficient = -0.22; 95% CI: (-0.24, -0.19)]. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation emerged between HDI and both population and geographic densities of health services availability. Notably, geographic density displayed greater inequality (Gini coefficients of 0.45 to 0.48) compared to population density (Gini coefficients of 0.03 to 0.10). ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that multimorbidity burden in China is linked to provincial socioeconomic disparities, and inequality in health services availability may account for this, which would advocate for a need to reduce disparities in health services availability.