Gender Differences between Multimorbidity and All-Cause Mortality among Older Adults

Alejandra Andrea Roman Lay; Carla Ferreira do Nascimento; Fresia Caba Burgos; Angélica Del Carmen Larraín Huerta; René Eduardo Rivera Zeballos; Verónica Pantoja Silva; Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira Duarte

doi:10.1155/2020/7816785

Gender Differences between Multimorbidity and All-Cause Mortality among Older Adults

Curr Gerontol Geriatr Res. 2020 Feb 19:2020:7816785. doi: 10.1155/2020/7816785. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Alejandra Andrea Roman Lay¹, Carla Ferreira do Nascimento², Fresia Caba Burgos³, Angélica Del Carmen Larraín Huerta⁴, René Eduardo Rivera Zeballos⁵, Verónica Pantoja Silva⁶, Yeda Aparecida de Oliveira Duarte⁷

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tarapacá, Arica, Chile.
² Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
³ Facultad de Salud, Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins, Santiago, Chile.
⁴ Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁵ Hospital Félix Bulnes Cerda, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
⁶ Núcleo Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Estudios Interdisciplinarios, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile.
⁷ School of Nursing, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

Abstract

Objectives: This study seeks to determine the prevalence of chronic diseases and analyze the association between multimorbidity and all-cause mortality by sex.

Methods: This is a 16-year longitudinal study of follow-up. We used sample data of the SABE (Health, Well-Being and Aging) study cohort and mortality data obtained through the Mortality Information Improvement Program of the City of São Paulo (PRO-AIM) from the 2000-2016 period. Survival analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazard models.

Results: Hypertension (HT) was the most prevalent disease in older adults (52.93%), followed by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) (27.09%), cardiovascular diseases (CD) (17.79%), diabetes mellitus (DM) (16.95%), mental disorders (MD) (15.43%), and respiratory diseases (RD) (9.72%). The highest mortality rate in women was observed in the combination of HT/MSDs/DM/MD (HR = 6.15, 95% CI = 2.32, 16.32), while in men was in the combination of HT/CD/MSDs/DM (HR = 5.72, 95% CI = 1.72, 19.06).

Conclusion: Similar to previous studies carried out in developed countries, we found that all-cause mortality increased as diseases are added to an individual. Women and men presented different mortality patterns according to multimorbidity. Therefore, we suggest that additional longitudinal studies should be performed in order to analyze mortality by sex.