Abstract
BackgroundMultimorbidity can be defined as the presence of more than one chronic condition in an individual. Research on multimorbidity has predominantly focused on older adults and few studies have examined multimorbidity in middle-aged people. The objectives of this study were to: 1) examine the prevalence of multimorbidity among middle-aged Canadians; and 2) examine the association between lifestyle factors (smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity) and multimorbidity in this age group.MethodsIn this analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) baseline data, we extracted data from 29,841 participants aged 45–64 years from a database of 51,338 people aged 45–85 years. Self-reported data on 27 chronic physical health conditions were used to derive different multimorbidity definitions. We estimated the prevalence of 3+ to 5+ chronic physical health conditions in different subgroups for descriptive purposes. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the association between socio-demographic and lifestyle factors, and multimorbidity using a 3+ multimorbidity case definition.ResultWe found that 39.6% (99% CI 38.4–40.7) of participants had three or more chronic conditions with a mean number of chronic condition of 2.41 (99% CI 2.37–2.46). The prevalence of multimorbidity increased with age from 29.7% in the 45–49-year-old age group to 52% in individuals aged 60–64 years. The prevalence of 4+ and 5+ chronic conditions was 24.5 and 14.2% respectively. Analyses indicated that female sex and low income were associated with higher odds of multimorbidity, whereas daily or weekly alcohol intake were associated with lower odds of multimorbidity. Exercise was not associated with multimorbidity. Results were similar when analyses were conducted separately for women and men.ConclusionsMultimorbidity is not limited to older adults, but is a common phenomenon among middle-aged people. Longitudinal research is needed to better understand the temporal relationship between lifestyle factors and multimorbidity.
Highlights
Multimorbidity can be defined as the presence of more than one chronic condition in an individual
A substantial proportion of respondents (84.3, 99% Confidence Interval (CI) 83.47–85.21) reported at least one of the chronic physical health conditions included in this study, with an overall average of 2.41 chronic conditions per person (Table 1)
Prevalence of multimorbidity The crude prevalence of multimorbidity, defined as three or more chronic conditions in an individual, for the full study sample was 39.6%
Summary
Multimorbidity can be defined as the presence of more than one chronic condition in an individual. Research on multimorbidity has predominantly focused on older adults and few studies have examined multimorbidity in middle-aged people. Multimorbidity, the co-existence of multiple chronic conditions in an individual [1,2,3], has been identified as one of the major health system concerns of the twenty-first century [4, 5]. Multimorbidity has been considered a health problem of older adults, a substantial number of young and middle-aged people have multimorbidity [6,7,8]. Despite this fact, relatively few studies have examined multimorbidity among middleaged people. Early-onset multimorbidity would be expected to further complicate this scenario as it prolongs the period of time spent in poor health as people age
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