Multimorbidity

The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil)

Authors

  • Bruno Pereira Nunes Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Faculdade de Enfermagem. Departamento de Enfermagem em Saúde Coletiva
  • Sandro Rogério Rodrigues Batista Universidade Federal de Goiás. Faculdade de Medicina
  • Fabíola Bof de Andrade Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou
  • Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde
  • Maria Fernanda Lima-Costa Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto René Rachou
  • Luiz Augusto Facchini Universidade Federal de Pelotas. Faculdade de Medicina. Departamento de Medicina Social

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000637

Keywords:

Aged, Multimorbidity, Comorbidity, Health Surveys

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the occurrence and factors associated with multimorbidity among Brazilians aged 50 years and over. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study in a nation-based cohort of the non-institutionalized population in Brazil. Data were collected between 2015 and 2016. Multimorbidity was assessed from a list of 19 morbidities, which were categorized into ≥ 2 and ≥ 3 diseases. The analysis included the calculation of frequencies and the most frequent 10 pairs and triplets of combinations of diseases. The crude and adjusted analyses evaluated the demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral, and contextual variables (area of residence, geopolitical region, and coverage of the Family Health Strategy) using Poisson regression. RESULTS: From the total of 9,412 individuals, 67.8% (95%CI 65.6–69.9) and 47.1% (95%CI 44.8–49.4) showed ≥ 2 and ≥ 3 diseases, respectively. In the adjusted analysis, women, older persons, and those who did not consume alcohol had increased multimorbidity. There were no associations with race, area of residence, geopolitical region, and coverage of the Family Health Strategy. The 10 pairs (frequencies observed between 11.6% and 23.2%) and the 10 triplets (frequencies observed between 4.9% and 9.5%) of the most frequent diseases mostly included back problems (15 times) and systemic arterial hypertension (11 times). All combinations were statistically higher than expected by chance. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of multimorbidity was high even among younger individuals (50 to 59 years). Approximately two in three (≥ 2 diseases) and one in two (≥ 3 diseases) individuals aged 50 years and over presented multimorbidity, which represents 26 and 18 million persons in Brazil, respectively. We observed high frequencies of combinations of morbidities.

Published

2019-01-24

How to Cite

Multimorbidity: The Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil). (2019). Revista De Saúde Pública, 52(Suppl 2), 10s. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2018052000637