What is the burden of multimorbidity and the factors associated with its occurrence in elderly Brazilians?
Danielle Samara Tavares de Oliveira-Figueiredo, Matteus Pio Gianotti Pereira Cruz Silva, Paula Yhasmym de Oliveira Feitosa and 3 others
PMID 38716903WHAT IT FOUND
Over half of community-dwelling elderly Brazilians have two or more chronic conditions.
Being female, older, having low education, smoking in the past, being physically inactive, and high screen time were associated with higher multimorbidity prevalence.
Key findings
01The prevalence of multimorbidity (two or more chronic conditions) among elderly individuals in Brazil was 51.6%.
02Multimorbidity was significantly associated with female sex, age 70 years or older, low education (0-8 years), past smoking, insufficient physical activity, and screen time of 3 or more hours per day.
03Residing in the North and Northeast regions and in rural areas was associated with lower prevalence of multimorbidity compared to the Southeast and urban areas.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design prevents establishing causality; associations do not imply that these factors cause multimorbidity. Chronic conditions were self-reported, which may lead to underreporting or misclassification, particularly in rural areas where access to diagnosis may be lower. The study did not account for other social and physical environmental factors that could influence multimorbidity. The sample excluded individuals living in institutions such as nursing homes, limiting generalizability to the most frail elderly.
Declared interests
The study used secondary public domain data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest were reported in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the associations with lifestyle factors as proof that changing these behaviors will reduce multimorbidity. The cross-sectional nature of the study means reverse causality is possible, such as having multiple chronic conditions leading to reduced physical activity rather than the other way around.