Treatment burden for older people with multimorbidity: a cross-sectional study in China

Abstract

Background There has been little research in China about treatment burden. Studies internationally have found high treatment burden is associated with number of long-term conditions, low quality of life (QoL) iand poor medication adherence. The purpose of this study is to understand factors associated with high treatment burden for older people with multimorbidity in China. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to May 2022. Through convenience sampling, 353 older people (≥ 60 years) with multimorbidity (≥ 2 long-term conditions) admitted to hospital in Zhengzhou, China, were invited to complete a survey including sociodemographic characteristics, long-term conditions and the Chinese version of Multimorbidity Treatment Burden Questionnaire (C-MTBQ). Ordinal logistic regression was used to identify the factors associated with high treatment burden. Results 342 older people with multimorbidity participated (response rate 92.2%) among whom, the prevalence of no, low, medium, and high treatment burden was 1.2% (4/342), 13.9% (44/342), 49.1% (168/342), and 36.8% (126/342), respectively. Ordinal logistic regression analysis found high treatment burden was associated with age, monthly household income, type of medical insurance, and number of long-term conditions. Conclusion Most surveyed older people with multimorbidity experienced medium-to-high treatment burden. Policy makers and service providers should focus particularly on people at risk of higher treatment burden, namely older people with low income, New Rural Cooperative and high number of long-term conditions. Policy should be addressed to reduce health inequalities from different types of medical insurance.