Multimorbidity among elderly in Bangladesh

Background: Multimorbidity among the elderly is a major public health problem in most of the developing countries, including Bangladesh, where the population is moving towards aging. Multimorbidity was defined as the co-occurrence of at least two chronic diseases in a person whether as a coincidence or not. Little attention has been paid to the study of the prevalence of multimorbidity among the elderly in Bangladesh.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of multimorbidity among hospitalized elderly.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two tertiary level hospitals with a sample of 566 adults aged 60 years or more. Data were collected from medical examination reports at the hospital and using a semi-structured interview schedule through an in-person interview. Descriptive statistics were used to measure the prevalence of multimorbidity.

Results: The overall prevalence of multimorbidity among the elderly was 56.4% and the prevalence was higher among females (64.18%) than males (54.17%). The most prevalent conditions were hypertension (33.0%), diabetes (27.6%), ischemic heart disease (12.0%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9%).

Conclusion: A high prevalence of multimorbidity suggests that there is an urgent need to develop geriatric health-care services. Policymakers should pay attention to developing effective intervention strategies and programs to reduce the burden of multimorbidity.