Author:

• Laércio Almeida de Melo - Melo, LA - <laercio_melo91@hotmail.com>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9276-0116

Co-author(s):

• Kenio Costa de Lima - Lima, K. C. - <limke@uol.com.br>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5668-4398

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to search for an association between the most frequent multimorbities in the elderly in Brazil and socioeconomic and lifestyle variables. To do so, the datathe National Health Survey were used. The Chi-square test and the Poisson multiple regression were used to analyze the data. A total of 5,575 elderly people with multimorbity and average age of 70.3 years participated. Most of them are female (66.3%), white (56.1%), do not perform physical exercises (75.3%), low schooling (40%), did not consume alcohol (78.7%) and did not smoke (90.1%). The most prevalent multimorbidities were: Hypertension and High Cholesterol (31.3%), Hypertension and Stroke (30.9%) and Hypertension and Diabetes (23.3%). There was an association of the first condition with the female sex, younger adults and the fact of not smoking. On the other hand, the second condition was associated with female gender and low level of schooling. The third group was associated with low schooling, those who did not exercise and did not smoke. It is concluded that multimorbidity in Brazilian elderly is a frequent condition in women, in those younger and socioeconomically disadvantaged. In addition, for the main multimorbities, socioeconomic conditions and lifestyle influenced their prevalence.

Keywords:

multimorbity, elderly, chronic diseases

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