Multimorbidity patterns and associated factors in older Chinese: results from the China health and retirement longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate multimorbidity patterns and their associated factors among elderly population in China. METHODS: A total of 10,479 participants aged at least 60 years were drawn from the 2018 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Latent class analysis (LCA) was performed to identify distinct multimorbidity classes based on 14 self-reported chronic conditions. The multinomial logit model was used to analyze the associated factors of multimorbidity patterns, focusing on individuals' demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES), and health behaviors. RESULTS: Among the 10,479 participants (mean age [SD]: 69.1 [7.1]), 65.6% were identified with multimorbidity. Five multimorbidity clusters were identified by LCA: relatively healthy class (49.8%), vascular class (24.7%), respiratory class (5.6%), stomach-arthritis class (14.5%), and multisystem morbidity class (5.4%). Multinomial logit analysis with the relatively healthy class as the reference showed that participants of older age and female sex were more likely to be in the vascular class and multisystem morbidity class. The probability of being in the vascular class was significantly higher for those with high SES. Ever smoking was associated with a higher probability of being in the respiratory class and multisystem morbidity class. Physical activity was associated with lower odds of being assigned to the vascular class, respiratory class, and multisystem class. CONCLUSION: The distinct multimorbidity patterns imply that the prevention and care strategy should target a group of diseases instead of a single condition. Prevention interventions should be paid attention to for individuals with risk factors. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03154-9.