Multimorbidity characteristics in elderly inpatients and their associated factors in complex networks: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Multimorbidity of chronic diseases has become an increasingly serious public health problem. However, the research on the current situation of multimorbidity in the elderly in Jiangsu, China is relatively lacking. Methods We surveyed a total of 229,926 inpatients aged above 60 and with two or more chronic diseases in the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2021. The Apriori algorithm was used to analyze the association rules of the multimorbidity patternsin old adults. Results The mean age of these patients was 72.0±8.7 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 1:1.53. These patients during the COVID-19 period(from 2020 to 2021) displayed younger, higher male rate, shorter median length of hospital stay, higher ≥6 multimorbidities rate and lower median cost than those not during the COVID-19 period (from 2015 to 2019). In all of these patients, the top 5 chronic diseases were "Hypertensive diseases(I10-I15)", "Other forms of heart disease(I30-I52)", "Diabetes mellitus(E10-E14)", "lschaemic heart diseases(I20-I25)" and "Cerebrovascular diseases(I60-I69)". The complex networks of multimorbidity showed that Hypertensive diseases had a higher probability of co-occurrence with multiple diseases in all these patients, followed by Diabetes mellitus, Other forms of heart disease, and lschaemic heart diseases(I20-I25). Conclusion In conclusion, the patterns of multimorbidity among the aged varied by COVID-19. Our results highlighted the importance of control of hypertensive diseases, diabetes, and heart disease in gerontal patients. More efforts to improve the understanding of multimorbidity patterns would help us develop new clinical and family care models.