Prevalence and factors associated with multimorbidity among older adults in Malaysia: a population-based cross-sectional study.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101552874 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2044-6055 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20446055 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMJ Open Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: [London] : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2011-
    • Subject Terms:
      Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* ; Multimorbidity*; Aged ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Humans ; Malaysia/epidemiology ; Prevalence ; Risk Factors
    • Abstract:
      Objectives: To determine the prevalence and factors associated with multimorbidity among community-dwelling older adults in Malaysia.
      Design: A population-based cross-sectional study.
      Setting: 13 states and 3 Federal Territories in Malaysia.
      Participants: A total of 3966 adults aged 60 years and above were extracted from the nationwide National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2018 data set.
      Primary Outcome Measures: Multimorbidity was defined as co-occurrence of at least two known chronic non-communicable diseases in the same individual. The chronic diseases included hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and cancer.
      Results: The prevalence of multimorbidity among Malaysian older adults was 40.6% (95% CI: 37.9 to 43.3). The factors associated with multimorbidity were those aged 70-79 years (adjusted OR (AOR)=1.30; 95% CI=1.04 to 1.63; p=0.019), of Indian (AOR=1.69; 95% CI=1.14 to 2.52; p=0.010) and Bumiputera Sarawak ethnicities (AOR=1.81; 95% CI=1.14 to 2.89; p=0.013), unemployed (AOR=1.53; 95% CI=1.20 to 1.95; p=0.001), with functional limitation from activities of daily livings (AOR=1.66; 95% CI=1.17 to 2.37; p=0.005), physically inactive (AOR=1.28; 95% CI=1.03 to 1.60; p=0.026), being overweight (AOR=1.62; 95% CI=1.11 to 2.36; p=0.014), obese (AOR=1.88; 95% CI=1.27 to 2.77; p=0.002) and with abdominal obesity (AOR=1.52; 95% CI=1.11 to 2.07; p=0.009).
      Conclusion: This study highlighted that multimorbidity was prevalent among older adults in the community. Thus, there is a need for future studies to evaluate preventive strategies to prevent or delay multimorbidity among older adults in order to promote healthy and productive ageing.
      Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.
      (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: cardiac epidemiology; general medicine (see internal medicine); geriatric medicine
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20211021 Date Completed: 20211103 Latest Revision: 20211105
    • Publication Date:
      20231215
    • Accession Number:
      PMC8529977
    • Accession Number:
      10.1136/bmjopen-2021-052126
    • Accession Number:
      34670764