Key result
Older adults experience decreasing stability and progressively shorter permanence time within the same multimorbidity pattern with increasing age, with sexagenarians showing the highest stability.
Why the study?
Evidence was lacking regarding the time older adults spend within a specific multimorbidity pattern and their transition probabilities across patterns as additional chronic diseases develop.
Cohort (n=3,363)
Older adults experience decreasing stability and progressively shorter permanence times within the same multimorbidity pattern as they age.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports age-stratified multimorbidity monitoring; leaves open whether interventions can extend pattern stability in older adults.
BACKGROUND: The evolution of multimorbidity patterns during aging is still an under-researched area. We lack evidence concerning the time spent by older adults within one same multimorbidity pattern, and their transitional probability across different patterns when further chronic diseases arise. The aim of this study is to fill this gap by exploring multimorbidity patterns across decades of age in older adults, and longitudinal dynamics among these patterns. METHODS: Longitudinal study based on the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K) on adults ≥60 years (N=3,363). Hidden Markov Models were applied to model the temporal evolution of both multimorbidity patterns and individuals' transitions over a 12-year follow-up. FINDINGS: pattern (8.9 years). Transition probabilities varied across decades, sexagenarians showing the highest levels of stability. INTERPRETATION: Our findings highlight the dynamism and heterogeneity underlying multimorbidity by quantifying the varying permanence times and transition probabilities across patterns in different decades. With increasing age, older adults experience decreasing stability and progressively shorter permanence time within one same multimorbidity pattern.
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Roso‐Llorach et al. (2022) conducted a cohort in Multimorbidity (n=3,363). Older adults experience decreasing stability and progressively shorter permanence time within the same multimorbidity pattern with increasing age, with sexagenarians showing the highest stability.
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