Chronic diseases and multimorbidity among elderly patients admitted in the medical wards of a Nigerian tertiary hospital

Background/PurposeMorbidity patterns vary for different age groups. As people grow older, chronic noncommunicable diseases become prominent causes of diseases. Our aim was to determine the frequency of occurrence and the patterns of chronic diseases and multimorbidity among elderly inpatients.MethodsA longitudinal prospective survey was conducted among patients aged ≥ 65 years who were admitted to the medical wards of a tertiary hospital (Nnewi, Nigeria) over a period of 12 months. Chronic diseases were defined and counted using the World Health Organization definition, and multimorbidity was defined as the co-occurrence of two or more chronic diseases in the same individual, at a given time.ResultsThe records of 345 patients aged between 65 years and 92 years were reviewed. There were 221 (64.1%) males and 124 (35.9%) females. A total of 223 (64.6%) patients were aged 65–74 years (early elderly), and 122 (35.4%) patients were aged ≥ 75 years (late elderly). Chronic morbidities were present in 92.5% (n = 319/345) of the patients, whereas 49.0% (n = 169/345) had multimorbidity. The diseases of the circulatory system and endocrine and metabolic diseases ranked the highest among the chronic diseases.ConclusionThe high frequency of occurrence of multiple chronic diseases in the same individual highlights the challenges awaiting the current healthcare delivery system in developing countries as the populations in these parts of the world grow older.