Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Multimorbidity Among Urban Community-Dwelling Elderly Individuals in Northeastern China

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the prevalence of chronic diseases and multimorbidity in the elderly population in an urban community in northeastern China.Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among an elderly population (≥60 years) in the community of Changchun, China, in 2018. The following were used: a sociodemographic questionnaire, anthropometric data, and laboratory examinations. A total of 2171 elderly residents (1328 male) were finally enrolled. Data on 5 chronic diseases—hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease (CHD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) —were collected by interviews and physical check-ups and confirmed by physicians.Results: The age-adjusted prevalences of the five chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, CHD and CKD) were the following: 67.60%, 63.30%, 61.50%, 51.00% and 8.98%, respectively, in men and 64.10%, 59.70%, 71.10%, 44.80% and 19.70%, respectively, in women. A total of 77.0% of hypertensive subjects were aware of their hypertension status, and 61.0% had their blood pressure controlled. The awareness rate of diabetes was 82.1%, and the controlled rate was 68.4%. A total of 75.4% of the population had two or more chronic conditions, which is called multimorbidity. The elderly individuals had the highest frequency of multiple chronic conditions.Conclusion: The prevalence of chronic diseases in the elderly was high, and a significant proportion was affected by multimorbidity in urban China. Chronic diseases are important diseases threatening the health of the elderly population.