Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 21:14:1449-1455.
doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S309783. eCollection 2021.

Prevalence and Patterns of Comorbidity Among Middle-Aged and Elderly People in China: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on CHARLS Data

Zhao-Ya Fan  1 , Yuan Yang  2 , Chang-Hong Zhang  1 , Ruo-Yun Yin  1 , Lei Tang  1 , Fan Zhang  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and Patterns of Comorbidity Among Middle-Aged and Elderly People in China: A Cross-Sectional Study Based on CHARLS Data

Zhao-Ya Fan et al. Int J Gen Med. .

Abstract

Introduction: Under the background of the accelerated aging of the population, comorbidity in the elderly has gradually become a social problem. At present, the related studies on chronic diseases are mainly focused on a single disease. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of common chronic diseases, the conditions and patterns of comorbidity in middle-aged and elderly people in China.

Methods: We extracted the data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 14 diseases were included, and the prevalence was assessed by self-report. We calculate different disease combinations and perform descriptive statistics analysis of chronic disease and comorbidity status.

Results: Among the 6754 subjects, 2833 (42.0%) people had at least one chronic disease, and 1138 (17.0%) people had two or more diseases at the same time. The top three diseases of prevalence were hypertension (15.4%), arthritis or rheumatism (11.0%), and stomach or digestive diseases (9.3%). Common dual disease combinations were hypertension and dyslipidemia, hypertension and arthritis or rheumatism, arthritis or rheumatism and stomach or digestive diseases.

Conclusion: Comorbidity is common in the population, and the pattern of chronic disease comorbidity is complex. Hypertension exists in a variety of comorbidity patterns, and its screening and prevention should be strengthened.

Keywords: CHARLS; China; chronic diseases; comorbidity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chronic diseases prevalence by age (A) and gender (B) among middle-aged and elderly Chinese.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of the number of patients with the disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Tang J, Liu WW. China’s aging process and some misunderstandings on it. J Beijing Univ Technol. 2018;18:8–18.
    1. National Bureau of Statistics. National data 2019. Available from: http://data.stats.gov.cn/easyquery.htm?cn=C01. Accessed January14, 2020.
    1. World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2008. Primary Health Care (Now More Than Ever). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008.
    1. Sum G, Hone T, Atun R, et al. Multimorbidity and out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines: a systematic review. BMJ Global Health. 2018;3(1):e000505. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000505 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sum G, Salisbury C, Koh GC, et al. Implications of multimorbidity patterns on health care utilisation and quality of life in middle-income countries: cross-sectional analysis. J Glob Health. 2019;9(2):020413. doi:10.7189/jogh.09.020413 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources