Table 2.
Top three frequent unique combination clusters for patients with multimorbidity, stratified by total number of chronic diseases and by sex.
| Age Group | Rank | Dyads of Morbidities | Triads of Morbidities | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | ||||||
| Combination | n (%) | Combination | n (%) | Combination | n (%) | Combination | n (%) | ||
| All ages; male: n = 955,257, female: n = 1,141,893 | |||||||||
| 1 | OARA + HT | 282,995 (29.6) | OARA + HT | 429,553 (37.6) | IHD + OARA + HT | 194,735 (20.4) | IHD + OARA + HT | 276,928 (24.3) | |
| 2 | IHD + HT | 272,230 (28.5) | IHD + OARA | 383,889 (33.6) | COPD + OARA + HT | 132,923 (13.9) | COPD + OARA + HT | 204,352 (17.9) | |
| 3 | IHD + OARA | 255,872 (26.8) | IHD + HT | 324,411 (28.4) | IHD + COPD + OARA | 130,557 (13.7) | IHD + COPD + OARA | 198,311 (17.4) | |
| 45–59 years; male: n = 446,540, female: n = 602,035 | |||||||||
| 1 | OARA + HT | 71,626 (16.0) | OARA + HT | 164,234 (27.3) | IHD + OARA + HT | 35,719 (8.0) | IHD + OARA + HT | 79,290 (13.2) | |
| 2 | DM + HT | 65,518 (14.7) | COPD + OARA | 120,912 (20.1) | DM + OARA + HT | 24,719 (5.5) | COPD + OARA + HT | 70,249 (11.7) | |
| 3 | IHD + HT | 63,979 (14.3) | IHD + OARA | 118,355 (19.7) | COPD + OARA + HT | 24,367 (5.5) | IHD + COPD + OARA | 58,021 (9.6) | |
| ≥60 years; male: n = 602,035, female: n = 539,858 | |||||||||
| 1 | OARA + HT | 211,369 (35.1) | IHD + OARA | 265,534 (49.2) | IHD + OARA + HT | 159,016 (26.4) | IHD + OARA + HT | 197,638 (36.6) | |
| 2 | IHD + HT | 208,251 (34.6) | OARA + HT | 265,319 (49.1) | IHD + COPD + OARA | 110,904 (18.4) | IHD + COPD + OARA | 140,290 (26.0) | |
| 3 | IHD + OARA | 206,397 (34.3) | IHD + HT | 230,795 (42.8) | COPD + OARA + HT | 108,556 (18.0) | COPD + OARA + HT | 134,103 (24.8) | |
Abbreviations: IHD, ischaemic heart disease; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DM, diabetes mellitus; OARA, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis; HT, hypertension.