Analysis of multimorbidity networks associated with different factors in Northeast China: a cross-sectional analysis

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify and study the associations and co-occurrence of multimorbidity, and assessed the associations of diseases with sex, age and hospitalisation duration. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: 15 general hospitals in Jilin Province, China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 431 295 inpatients were enrolled through a cross-sectional study in Jilin Province, China. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The complex relationships of multimorbidity were presented as weighted networks. RESULTS: The distributions of the numbers of diseases differed significantly by sex, age and hospitalisation duration (p<0.001). Cerebrovascular diseases (CD), hypertensive diseases (HyD), ischaemic heart diseases (IHD) and other forms of heart disease (OFHD) showed the highest weights in the multimorbidity networks. The connections between different sexes or hospitalisation duration and diseases were similar, while those between different age groups and diseases were different. CONCLUSIONS: CD, HyD, IHD and OFHD were the central points of disease clusters and directly or indirectly related to other diseases or factors. Thus, effective interventions for these diseases should be adopted. Furthermore, different intervention strategies should be developed according to multimorbidity patterns in different age groups.