Magnitude and pattern of multimorbidity among adult patients attending a primary care setting in Delhi, India

Background: Multimorbidity, “the coexistence of two or more chronic diseases”, is an upcoming & less addressed public health challenge for low and middle-income countries undergoing rapid demographic and epidemiological transition. This study was done to estimate the burden & pattern of multimorbidity in adults (≥18 years) in a primary care setting. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 2021 to March 2022 at a primary health centre in South Delhi. Data was collected by conducting exit interviews with 510 adult patients using a self-designed, pre-tested interview schedule. Data was analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Results: Out of 510 study subjects interviewed, the overall magnitude of multimorbidity was 160 (31.4%). Almost half of the study subjects with multimorbidity had dyads, one-third had triads, and the rest had quadrads multimorbidity patterns. The leading triad was diabetes mellitus+hypertension+heart disease (12.3%), followed by diabetes mellitus+hypertension+chronic lung disease (10.5%). More than half of the study subjects with multimorbidity, 89 (55.6%), suffered from concordant MM. Conclusions: The study revealed that 31.4% of subjects had multimorbidity, which was almost equally distributed across the age groups. The burden was significantly higher among those aged 18-39 years. Hypertension and Heart disease were found to be the most frequent and the most concordant multimorbidity, respectively, associated with Diabetes mellitus.