Title
Multimorbidity in a cohort of middle-aged women: Risk factors and disease clustering
Date Issued
01 July 2020
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Imperial College London
Publisher(s)
Elsevier Ireland Ltd
Abstract
Objective: We aimed to evaluate which risk factors in middle-aged women are associated with higher risk of multimorbidity in older age. Study design: We conducted a prospective cohort study from 1990 to 1993 in Santiago de Chile, Chile among women aged 40–59 (at baseline). Diagnosed illnesses were retrieved from national health records in 2020. Main outcome measures: : Clinical and laboratory evaluation was conducted. Results: 1066 women were followed-up for a mean of 27.8 years, after which 49.7% presented multimorbidity. These women, as compared with those without multimorbidity, were more likely at baseline to have had obesity (20.4% vs. 8.6%, p < 0.001); be post-menopause (47.2% vs. 40.5%; p < 0.03); have jobs that did not require a qualification (74.2% vs. 56.0%, p < 0.001); arterial hypertension (19.8% vs 14.4%, p < 0.018); lower HDL-cholesterol (51.3 ± 12.9 vs. 53.6±12.7 mg/dL, p < 0.005); and higher triglyceride levels (136.0 ± 65.0 vs. 127.0 ± 74.0 mg/dL, p = 0.028). Hypertension was associated in 22.0% of women with diabetes, in 20.9% with osteoarthritis and 14.0% with depression. Osteoarthritis was also associated with diabetes mellitus (8.3%) and depression (7.8%). Diabetes mellitus, in addition to hypertension and osteoarthritis, was associated with depression (6.4%). In a logistic regression model, we observed that obesity in middle-aged women was the strongest risk factor for multimorbidity in the elderly (OR: 2.48; 95% CI, 1.71–3.61), followed by having a job that did not require a qualification (OR: 2.18; 95% CI, 1.67–2.83) and having a low HDL-cholesterol level (OR: 1.31; 95% CI, 1.02–1.68). Conclusions: Multimorbidity was highly prevalent in this older female population. Obesity in middle-aged women was the strongest risk factor for multimorbidity at older age. These results are relevant for Chile and other countries with similar population profiles.
Start page
45
End page
49
Volume
137
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencias de la salud
Endocrinología, Metabolismo (incluyendo diabetes, hormonas)
Nutrición, Dietética
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85084368043
PubMed ID
Source
Maturitas
ISSN of the container
03785122
Sponsor(s)
Juan E. Blümel has received financial support from Grünenthal for attendance at the International Menopause Society (IMS) Congress Vancouver, Canada, 2018 and at the European Menopause and Androgen Society (EMAS) Congress, Berlin, Germany, 2019.
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-for-profit sectors. Rodrigo M. Carrillo-Larco is supported by a Wellcome Trust International Training Fellowship grant (214185/Z/18/Z). Peter Chedraui is supported by the Sistema de Investigaci?n y Desarrollo (SINDE) and the Vice-Rectorado de Investigaci?n & Postgrado (VRIP) of the Universidad Cat?lica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador, through grant No. SIU-318-853-2014 (The Omega II, Women's Health Project).
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-for-profit sectors. Rodrigo M. Carrillo-Larco is supported by a Wellcome Trust International Training Fellowship grant ( 214185/Z/18/Z ). Peter Chedraui is supported by the Sistema de Investigación y Desarrollo (SINDE) and the Vice-Rectorado de Investigación & Postgrado (VRIP) of the Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador , through grant No. SIU-318-853-2014 (The Omega II, Women’s Health Project).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus