Multimorbidity and pattern of diseases in elderly patients attending the geriatric outdoor department: A cross-sectional study from Western India

Abstract

Background: The geriatric population has been increasing in developing countries like India. There are fewer studies on multimorbidity in geriatric populations from low- and middle-income countries including India. Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the multimorbidity and pattern of diseases in patients attending a geriatric clinic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in western India among 300 geriatric patients (age ≥65 years) attending geriatric clinics in 2018. The presence of multimorbidity was defined as the coexistence of two or more chronic conditions. The 10-year survival was estimated using Charlson's Comorbidity Index. Data were entered in a Microsoft Excel worksheet and analyzed using EpiData Software version 2.8.3. Results: Out of the total 300 patients, 102 (34%) had single morbidity, whereas 198 (66%) suffered from multimorbidity. The most frequent chronic diseases in all patients were hypertension (63.33%), mental diseases (35.66%), diabetes mellitus (25.66%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (18.66%), and coronary artery disease (CAD) (18.33%). The common prevalent chronic disease pairs were mental and neurological diseases in 107 (35.6%) patients, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in 57 (19%), hypertension and CAD in 38 (12.6%), and hypertension and COPD in 15 (5%) patients. Most of the patients had a Charlson's Comorbidity Index of 3 with a predicted 10-year survival rate of 77%. Conclusion: Sixty-six percent of our cohort was multimorbid. Hypertension was the most common chronic disease while CAD had the highest relative risk for multimorbidity. The most common comorbid pair was mental and neurological disorders.