Table 1 Characteristics of the baseline survey from the CHARLS (n = 12,306)
Characteristics | All participants (N, %) | Percentage of multimorbidity (95% CI) | P value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years | ||||||
 45–59 | 7125 | 57.8 | 39.3 | 37.7 | 41.0 | < 0.001 |
 ≥ 60 | 5181 | 42.2 | 55.6 | 53.8 | 57.4 |  |
Gender | ||||||
 Male | 5972 | 48.4 | 43.9 | 42.0 | 45.8 | < 0.001 |
 Female | 6334 | 51.6 | 48.4 | 46.7 | 50.1 |  |
Marital status | ||||||
 Married and partnered | 10,916 | 87.6 | 45.0 | 43.6 | 46.3 | < 0.001 |
 Unmarried and others | 1390 | 12.4 | 54.8 | 51.6 | 57.9 |  |
Education level | ||||||
 Primary school and below | 8406 | 66.6 | 48.9 | 47.4 | 50.3 | < 0.001 |
 Secondary school | 2549 | 20.9 | 40.5 | 37.9 | 43.1 |  |
 College and above | 1351 | 12.5 | 41.5 | 37.1 | 46.0 |  |
Residence status | ||||||
 Urban | 4338 | 42.5 | 47.0 | 44.5 | 49.4 | 0.369 |
 Rural | 7968 | 57.5 | 45.6 | 44.5 | 46.8 |  |
Region | ||||||
 Class 1 (the most affluent) | 1243 | 12.0 | 43.4 | 39.7 | 47.1 | < 0.001 |
 Class 2 | 2670 | 22.8 | 40.7 | 37.0 | 44.6 |  |
 Class 3 | 1613 | 13.3 | 48.6 | 45.7 | 51.5 |  |
 Class 4 | 5035 | 37.6 | 49.1 | 47.5 | 50.6 |  |
 Class 5 (the most deprived) | 1745 | 14.3 | 47.5 | 44.9 | 50.0 |  |
PCE, quintile | ||||||
 Q1 (the lowest) | 2968 | 23.2 | 43.7 | 41.5 | 46.0 | 0.348 |
 Q2 | 2969 | 22.9 | 46.1 | 44.1 | 48.1 |  |
 Q3 | 2966 | 24.9 | 45.4 | 42.8 | 48.0 |  |
 Q4 (the highest) | 2967 | 29.0 | 48.8 | 46.1 | 51.5 |  |
Health insurance | ||||||
 None | 729 | 6.2 | 44.2 | 39.0 | 49.6 | < 0.001 |
 UEBMI | 1027 | 11.8 | 52.5 | 47.6 | 57.3 |  |
 URBMI | 589 | 5.9 | 54.5 | 48.3 | 60.6 |  |
 NCMS | 9653 | 73.2 | 44.5 | 43.2 | 45.8 |  |
 Others | 308 | 2.8 | 50.8 | 43.4 | 58.2 |  |
Number of NCDs | ||||||
 0 | 2850 | 23.6 |  |  |  |  |
 1 | 3759 | 30.2 |  |  |  |  |
 2 | 2880 | 23.4 |  |  |  |  |
 3 | 1548 | 12.4 |  |  |  |  |
 4 | 773 | 6.3 |  |  |  |  |
 5 | 322 | 2.5 |  |  |  |  |
 ≥ 6 | 174 | 1.6 |  |  |  |  |