The prevalence of multimorbidity, the coexistence of two or more chronic diseases, is expected to increase, including in Indonesia.This phenomenon is associated with increased life expectancy and incidence of non-communicable diseases.Therefore, this study assesses the burden of multimorbidity in Indonesia by sociodemographic factors.The researchers analyzed cross-sectional data from the latest wave of IFLS conducted in 2014, the IFLS wave 5.
The researchers included individuals aged 15 and above with blood pressure measurements (n= 32.256) from 13,536 households.Meanwhile, the researchers excluded individuals with missing data on BMI (183 individuals) or who had biologically implausible or extreme values (n=6).The analyses were then conducted on 32,067 individuals.
The analyses comprised the ten most common self-reported chronic diseases diagnosis in IFLS-5.The findings revealed that the prevalence of self-reported multimorbidity in Indonesia was relatively high, at 9.32% (n= 2.989), with the highest proportion of multimorbidity reported among Concealers the elderly.
Approximately 2.76% of the respondents (n- 885) reported having three or more chronic diseases.The most common combinations were hypertension and digestive problem (2.15%, n= 689), followed by hypertension and arthritis (1.
79%, n= 574), and hypertension and high cholesterol (1.68%, n= 539).When stratified by sociodemographic factors, the researchers found a higher proportion of multimorbidity among females (11.01%, n= 3,530) compared to Pet Accessories males (7.
41%, n= 2.376), elderly (21.54%, n= 3.530) compared to younger adults, and previous smokers (20.
90%, n= 6.072).People who were obese and overweight also reported a higher prevalence of multimorbidity (13.73%, n= 4.
403 and 9.3%, n= 2.998, respectively).In addition, those living in urban areas had a higher proportion of multimorbidity (10.
33%, n= 3.313) compared to rural areas (7.2%, n= 2.527).
In conclusion, this study uncovered a relatively high prevalence of multimorbidity.People living in urban areas were overweight/obese and those who had low SES had a higher proportion of multimorbidity.With the nature of self-reported data and previously reported underdiagnosis of chronic diseases, screening to examine multimorbidity is needed.