Table 2 Prevalence of multimorbidity according to three different definitions and the participants’ characteristics

All

1294 (34.8)

2089 (56.3)

845 (22.7)

Gender

Woman

790 (40.2)

1213 (61.7)

533 (27.1)

Man

502 (28.7)

876 (50.1)

312 (17.9)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Age group

35-44

314 (23.6)

671 (50.2)

184 (13.8)

45-54

418 (33.9)

697 (56.7)

275 (22.4)

55-64

499 (47.1)

658 (62.3)

353 (33.4)

65+

61 (67.0)

63 (70.0)

33 (36.7)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Education

Primary

259 (42.2)

357 (58.1)

191 (31.1)

Apprenticeship

480 (37.9)

747 (58.9)

328 (25.9)

High school/college

319 (31.9)

555 (55.4)

203 (20.3)

University

236 (28.4)

430 (51.7)

123 (14.8)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.01

<0.001

Receiving social help

No

1004 (31.7)

1708 (54.0)

625 (19.7)

Yes

290 (52.9)

381 (69.5)

220 (40.2)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Born in Switzerland

No

460 (31.4)

768 (52.3)

289 (19.7)

Yes

832 (37.1)

1321 (58.8)

556 (24.8)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Smoking

Never

440 (30.2)

714 (48.9)

288 (19.7)

Former

462 (38.7)

721 (60.4)

304 (25.5)

Current

390 (36.8)

654 (61.6)

253 (23.9)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

0.001

BMI status

Normal

560 (29.3)

1054 (55.0)

302 (15.8)

Overweight

470 (36.1)

700 (53.7)

235 (18.0)

Obese

262 (52.9)

335 (67.5)

308 (62.1)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001

Abdominal obesity

No

830 (30.0)

1474 (53.2)

435 (15.7)

Yes

464 (49.2)

615 (65.2)

410 (43.4)

p-value between groups

<0.001

<0.001

<0.001