ArticleJournal of epidemiology and community health2023
Childhood health and educational disadvantage are associated with adult multimorbidity in the global south: findings from a cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative surveys in India and Brazil.
Article in Journal of epidemiology and community health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The magnitude of multimorbidity in childhood: a global systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Capacity building models for managing multiple long-term conditions in low-and-middle-income countries: a systematic review and gap analysis.Human resources for health · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Prevalence and patterns of multiple long-term conditions among lymphatic filariasis patients in Odisha, India: a community-based cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Overview of multimorbidity research in India: A scoping review.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityReview
- Epidemiology and impact of chronic disease multimorbidity in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityReview
- Epidemiology of multimorbidity in Nepal: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of multimorbidity and comorbidityReview
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issuedCorrection:2024
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionMultimorbidity has emerged as a major healthcare challenge in low/middle-income countries (LMICs) such as India and Brazil. Life course epidemiology suggests that adverse events in early life contribute to an individual's later health in adulthood. However, little is known about the influence of early life health and social factors on the development of multimorbidity in adulthood in LMICs. We aimed to explore the association of adult multimorbidity with childhood health and social disadvantages among two LMICs, India and Brazil.
methodsWe conducted a secondary data analysis of older adults aged ≥50 years using nationally representative surveys from Longitudinal Ageing Study in India, 2017-2018 (n=51 481) and 'Estudo Longitudinal da Saude e Bem-Estar dos Idosos Brasileirous', 2015-2016 (n=8730). We estimated the prevalence of multimorbidity along with 95% CI as a measure of uncertainty for all weighted proportions. Log link in generalised linear model was used to assess the association between childhood health and disadvantages with multimorbidity, reported as adjusted prevalence ratio (APR).
resultsThe prevalence of multimorbidity was 25.53% and 55.24% in India and Brazil, respectively. Participants who perceived their childhood health as poor and missed school for a month or more due to illness had the highest level of multimorbidity across both countries. After adjusting for age and gender, a significant association between adult multimorbidity and poor self-rated childhood health (APR: (India: 1.38, 1.16 to 1.65) and (Brazil: 1.19, 1.09 to 1.30)); and missed school for a month due to illness (AOR: (India: 1.73, 1.49 to 2.01) and (Brazil: 1.16, 1.08 to 1.25)) was observed.
conclusionEarly life health, educational and economic disadvantages are associated with adult multimorbidity and appear to contribute to the later course of life. A life course approach to the prevention of multimorbidity in adulthood in LMICs may be useful in health programmes and policies.
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