Multimorbidity prevalence in Canada: a comparison of Northern Territories with Provinces, 2013/14

Rapid social, economic, and environmental changes in the northern territories of Canada have raised concerns about potentially increasing levels of chronic disease. This concern prompted us to compare multimorbidity prevalence in Canada between the territories and provinces. We analyzed Canadian Community Health Survey data for 2013/14. We defined multimorbidity, the outcome, as having 3 or more chronic conditions and used survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression for comparisons between territories and provinces. We found a prevalence of multimorbidity in Canada of 14.0% (95% CI: 13.6, 14.3). We could not find significant difference in multimorbidity prevalence between the territories and provinces of Canada overall; however, the territories tended to have lower prevalence estimates than provinces for multimorbidity (adj-OR = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.74–1.04). Sensitivity analyses from propensity score analyses had similar conclusions. Effect modification analyses identified lower multimorbidity in territories versus provinces among households without a post-secondary graduate (adj-OR = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.34–0.61 for northern residence), males (adj-OR = 0.71; 95% CI: 0.54–0.93), and ages 12–29 years (adj-OR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.39–0.99). Caution is needed in interpreting the results in light of representativeness of CCHS in northern populations of Canada.