ArticleBMJ public health2025
Inequality in the accumulation of diseases and medications among older adults: a longitudinal cohort study 2016-2021.
Article in BMJ public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Feasibility study of the Care-at-Home Pharmacotherapy Service (CAHPS): pharmacy technician-led home visits for people receiving polypharmacy who are housebound living in socioeconomically deprived areas.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- From fragmentation to integration: can social prescribing bridge the gap between multimorbidity and mental health in an ageing population?BMJ public health · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Socioeconomic deprivation is a major driver of multimorbidity (multiple long-term conditions, MLTCs) and polypharmacy in ageing populations. However, it is unclear how these inequalities evolve over time or influence early disease progression. Methods: We conducted a population-based longitudinal study of 414 746 adults aged ≥51 years in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scotland, using linked administrative health records. Participants were followed at three timepoints (2016, 2019, 2021), with socioeconomic status defined by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles. Outcomes included prevalence and progression of MLTCs and medication burden. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) models estimated the burden of disease and prescribing, and the likelihood of remaining disease-free or prescription-free, adjusted for age and sex. Results: Multimorbidity and prescription burden increased over time across all groups. In 2021, 26.0% of individuals in the most deprived decile (SIMD1) had ≥5 conditions compared with 13.8% in the least deprived (SIMD10). From 2016 to 2021, individuals in SIMD10 were nearly 40% less likely to progress from a single condition to five or more (risk ratio=0.62 (0.60 to 0.63)) compared with SIMD1. ZINB models showed lower expected MLTC counts (incidence rate ratio (IRR)=0.59 (0.58 to 0.60)) and medication burden (IRR=0.91 (0.90 to 0.91)) in SIMD10, but also lower odds of remaining completely disease-free (OR=0.65 (0.63 to 0.68)) or prescription-free (OR=0.44 (0.41 to 0.47)). Findings were consistent in survivor-only sensitivity analyses (n=360 683). Conclusions: Socioeconomic deprivation shapes disease and treatment trajectories from the earliest stages. Individuals in deprived areas experience faster accumulation of conditions and medications. These disparities are not explained by survival differences and highlight the need for equity-focused prevention, tailored care pathways and systems that address the social complexity of multimorbidity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.