[Multimorbidity and utilization of health services in the city of São Paulo, Brazil: prevalence and associated factors].

Abstract

The scope of this paper was to estimate the prevalence of multimorbidity in the city of São Paulo and to verify the factors associated with the utilization of the health services. It involved a population based cross-sectional study based on data from the Health Survey in the city of São Paulo, in which descriptive analysis was conducted, and logistic regression models were developed using multimorbidity and sociodemographic independent variables, living conditions and use of health services as the outcome. A total of 3,184 individuals aged 20 years or older participated, with a mean age of 43.8 years. The prevalence of multimorbidity was 50.7% among women, 62.5% among those who reported some health problem and 55.1% among those who had recourse to health services in the last 2 weeks. A higher prevalence was identified among those who used the health service due to a mental health problem (66.1%), and in those who reported higher health expenditures in the preceding month (55.4%). Multimorbidity was more frequently associated with aging, in the population with a higher economic status, with worse self-rated health, who frequented health services for 6 months or less, who reported a health problem, or who had a health plan and opted for polypharmacy.