A Comparison between 2006 and 2017 in Total, Gender and Educational Differences in Multimorbidity of Chronic Diseases among the Older Population in Spain.

Elisenda Rentería , Centre d'Estudis Demogràfics
Pilar Zueras, Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) - University of Essex

The probability of suffering from more than one disease or health condition increases with age. However, one important research question left to answer is whether gender and socioeconomic differences in multimorbidity remained the same over time, converge or diverge. Our research aim is, therefore, to obtain for different population groups an accurate picture of the prevalence in multimorbidity from key chronic conditions in Spain. Data are drawn from the 2006 and 2017 rounds of the Spanish National Health Survey (ENSE). We define comorbidity as suffering from at least 3 chronic conditions. We analyse prevalence rates of each condition for the total, the multimorbid and the non-multimorbid samples and relative risks for multimorbidity. The prevalence of 3-way disease combinations was then estimated and if they were greater than the expected prevalence. Lastly, a principal component analysis was performed. Analyses were done for the total population aged 60-89, by sex and educational attainment. Results show that multimorbidity slowly expanded between 2006 and 2017 with widening educational differences. Prevalence of multimorbidity was highest for those suffering from digestive-related conditions and lowest among hypertension, cholesterol, and obesity sufferers. Osteoarthrosis, hypertension, and back pain dominated the most common triadic combinations in 2017, although men also saw increases in cholesterol and diabetes. Any change in the prevalence of multimorbidity is essential information for future health and health care planning in an ever-growing elderly population, whereby specific focus needs to be given to gender and socioeconomic differences as they represent additional public health challenges.

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 Presented in Session 52. Education and Health