Table 2.

Prevalence of multimorbidity among older adults stratified by gender, LASI, 2017–18, (n = 28,050)

Background characteristics	Male	Female	Difference	p-value
	%	%
Obese/overweight
No	18.3	18.5	-0.1	0.490
Yes	38.8	44.9	-6.1	0.001
High risk waist circumference
No	19.6	16.1	3.4	0.001
Yes	46.3	41.2	5.1	0.030
High risk waist-Hip ratio
No	14.7	24.3	-9.6	0.002
Yes	24.3	27.4	-3.2	0.001
Age
Young-old	21.6	23.8	-2.3	0.001
Old-old	23.0	28.6	-5.6	0.007
Oldest-old	23.2	25.7	-2.4	0.695
Education
No education/primary not completed	17.1	21.3	-4.2	0.001
Primary completed	25.4	38.1	-12.7	0.001
Secondary completed	25.9	51.5	-25.6	0.001
Higher and above	34.8	36.8	-2.0	0.008
Marital status
Currently married	22.9	23.5	-0.6	0.093
Widowed	19.7	27.2	-7.5	0.001
Others	16.7	21.4	-4.7	0.174
Work status
Working	14.4	12.0	2.4	0.004
Not working/Retired	28.6	24.7	3.9	0.001
Never worked	23.9	31.5	-7.6	0.001
Tobacco consumption
No	26.8	26.7	0.1	0.906
Yes	19.0	21.1	-2.1	0.148
Alcohol consumption
No	22.8	25.8	-2.9	0.001
Yes	20.5	13.2	7.3	0.001
Physical activity
Frequent	16.4	18.0	-1.6	0.208
Rare	16.8	14.5	2.4	0.581
Never	26.0	28.0	-2.1	0.038
MPCE quintile
Poorest	17.1	16.2	0.9	0.037
Poorer	19.4	21.0	-1.6	0.028
Middle	19.3	25.0	-5.7	0.001
Richer	24.5	31.0	-6.5	0.001
Richest	33.1	38.6	-5.5	0.181
Religion
Hindu	21.7	24.5	-2.8	0.001
Muslim	22.7	29.2	-6.5	0.001
Christian	29.3	32.6	-3.4	0.184
Others	25.8	29.2	-3.3	0.020
Caste
Scheduled Caste	18.6	20.4	-1.8	0.367
Scheduled Tribe	13.7	9.0	4.7	0.695
Other Backward Class	22.2	27.4	-5.1	0.001
Others	26.9	30.8	-3.9	0.001
Place of residence
Rural	18.2	19.9	-1.7	0.023
Urban	32.5	37.8	-5.3	0.001
Region
North	23.3	25.3	-2.1	0.014
Central	13.1	13.8	-0.7	0.878
East	21.1	24.7	-3.7	0.003
Northeast	18.0	14.3	3.7	0.012
West	27.9	27.6	0.3	0.058
South	28.6	35.5	-6.9	0.001
Total	22.2	25.4	-3.3	0.001

Difference: Male–Female; MPCE Monthly per capita consumption expenditure