How common is multimorbidity in elderly Chinese inpatients?
Among 210,169 elderly inpatients (2008–2019), 91.89% had ≥2 long-term conditions (mean 4.68 diseases) and average medication count was 5.4.
Source
Chronic diseases spectrum and multimorbidity in elderly inpatients based on a 12-year epidemiological survey in China
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cohort — 12-year hospital administrative series of elderly inpatients
- N
- N=210169 · 290,833 hospitalizations from 2008–2019
- Population
- Elderly inpatients in a large Chinese hospital system
- Outcome
- Spectrum of chronic disease and multimorbidity among elderly inpatients
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Inspect source passages
How common is multimorbidity in elderly Chinese inpatients?
These passages occur verbatim in the stored paper text. They support the points listed below; they do not verify every statement in the explanation.
210,169 elderly patients and 290,833 hospitalizations (2008–2019).
A total of 210,169 elderly patients were hospitalized from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2019. The corresponding number of hospitalizations was 290,833.
91.89% multimorbidity; mean 4.68 diseases; mean 5.4 medications.
the number of patients with two or more long-term health conditions was 267,259, accounting for 91.89%, with an average of 4.68 diseases. In addition, the average number of medications taken by the study population was 5.4, among which, the proportion of patients taking more than 5 types of medications accounted for 55.42%.
What they did
Analyzed PLA General Hospital inpatient records from 2008–2019 for disease constitution, multimorbidity, in-hospital death, and polypharmacy among elderly admissions.
What they found
290,833 hospitalizations; mean age 72.67; 25.27% re-hospitalized within a year. Top diseases: malignant tumor, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease. Multimorbidity 91.89%; >5 medications in 55.42%.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Single tertiary-center data may over-represent complex cases versus community elders; associations are descriptive, not causal treatment effects.
Key terms
- Multimorbidity
- Two or more long-term health conditions in one person.
- Polypharmacy
- Use of multiple medications, often ≥5 concurrent drugs.
- Re-hospitalization
- Readmission within a defined window (here, one year).
- Disease spectrum
- Ranked constitution of common diagnoses in the cohort.
- Elderly inpatient
- Older adult admitted to hospital rather than surveyed in the community.
- Comorbidity
- Coexisting conditions accompanying an index disease.
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Quiz yourself
Elderly patients in the series:
Common questions
How many elderly patients?
210,169 (290,833 hospitalizations).
Multimorbidity rate?
91.89% with ≥2 long-term conditions.
Mean medications?
5.4; 55.42% took >5 types.
Top disease?
Malignant tumor led the top-five list.
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