Patterns of multimorbidity in community health centres in Shanghai, China: a retrospective, cross-sectional study based on outpatient data from 2014 to 2018

OBJECTIVE: Caring for patients with multimorbidity is an important part of primary care. It has become increasingly relevant that understanding the spectrum of multimorbidity will help general practitioners (GPs) acquire working knowledge and improve management skills. However, there was little research on characteristics of multimorbidity in primary care in China. This study aimed to identify the spectrum of frequency, proportion and ranking of multimorbidity patterns in adult patients seen at community health centres (CHCs) in Shanghai, China. DESIGN AND SETTING: This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study analysis of outpatient data of 244 CHCs in Shanghai, China. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients with chronic disease who visited Shanghai CHCs during 2014–2018 were selected from Shanghai CHC electronic medical records database using the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision codes matched to the Second Version of International Classification of Primary Care codes. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: A number of adult patients with chronic disease were counted. Then frequency, proportion and rank of disease patterns of multimorbidity were analysed. RESULTS: Analysis of 301 651 158 electronic health records of 5 909 280 adult patients (54.2% females) found the multimorbidity proportion to be 81.2%. The prevalence of multimorbidity increased with age, which climbed from 43.7% among those aged 19–34 to 94.9% among those more than 80 years of age. The proportion of multimorbidity was higher in females (83.2%) than males (79.7%). Vascular and metabolic diseases were the most frequent diseases for patients over 45 years old. CONCLUSIONS: Multimorbidity has brought huge challenges to primary care practice in Shanghai. The Shanghai government should strengthen its support for the multitargeted prevention of chronic diseases and the improvement of GPs’ management capabilities.