Multimorbidity as an important issue among women: results of a gender difference investigation in a large population-based cross-sectional study in West Asia

Abstract

ObjectivesTo investigate the impact of gender on multimorbidity in northern Iran.DesignA cross-sectional analysis of the Golestan cohort data.SettingGolestan Province, Iran.Study population49 946 residents (age 40–75 years) of Golestan Province, Iran.Main outcome measuresResearchers collected data related to multimorbidity, defined as co-existence of two or more chronic diseases in an individual, at the beginning of a representative cohort study which recruited its participants from 2004 to 2008. The researchers utilised simple and multiple Poisson regression models with robust variances to examine the simultaneous effects of multiple factors.ResultsWomen had a 25.0% prevalence of multimorbidity, whereas men had a 13.4% prevalence (p<0.001). Women of all age-groups had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity. Of note, multimorbidity began at a lower age (40–49 years) in women (17.3%) compared with men (8.6%) of the same age (p<0.001). This study identified significant interactions between gender as well as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, physical activity, marital status, education level and smoking (p<0.01).ConclusionPrevention and control of multimorbidity requires health promotion programmes to increase public awareness about the modifiable risk factors, particularly among women.

The patterns of Non-communicable disease Multimorbidity in Iran: A Multilevel Analysis

“…In this study, 13 non-communicable diseases were defined according to the Charlson comorbidity index 54 . Similar to these findings Alimohammadian et al showed an association between decreased physical activity and multimorbidity in adults, which was more evident in males 41 . Another study from Quebec, reported no association between multimorbidity and physical activity in both genders 55 .…”

“…In this study, the prevalence of most NCDs such as Diabetes, Coronary Artery Disease, Osteoporosis, Back Pain, Neck Pain and Knee Pain was significantly higher in females. Multimorbidity was more common among females in some previous studies 40,41 , but not is studies from Finland, Poland, and Spain 42 . A study from Kuwait also showed that the prevalence of NCDs was higher among males 43 .…”

“…A study from Kuwait also showed that the prevalence of NCDs was higher among males 43 . A potential cause for the higher prevalence of NCDs among females could be their relatively higher tendency to mention their condition in self-reports 41 and another reason may be gender inequality in access to healthcare 44 .…”

“…The mean prevalence of multimorbidity was 7.8% in 28 developing open Scientific RepoRtS | (2020) 10:3034 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59668-y www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ countries in 2015 7 . NCD multimorbidity may occur 10-15 years earlier in individuals living in developing countries 8 and as mean population age increases, the growing prevalence of NCD multimorbidity has led to decreased quality of life among these patients [9][10][11] . Multimorbidity is already, and will be in the future, a great challenge for both developed and developing countries 12 .On the basis of WHO estimates, by 2050, Iran, as a developing country will have a high proportion of old citizens 13 .…”

Multimorbidity and healthcare utilization: A register-based study in Denmark

“…However, in this study the overrepresentation of women among multimorbid individuals cannot be explained by the longevity of women alone: The frequency of multimorbidity within each one-year age group was consistently higher for women than men from 68 years to 100 years of age, the difference increasing with age. This finding is consistent with previous results across healthcare systems and geography [34-36]. Eighty percent of the study population and 45% of individuals with multimorbidity were younger than age 65 (Table 2).…”