ABSTRACT
Objective To analyze the relationship between socioeconomic position and prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and multi-morbidity among older adults in rural Yunnan Province. Methods A total of 4 833 older adults aged 60 years and over were selected by multi-stage stratified random sampling method in rural Yunnan Province. Information was acquired from questionnaire and health examination. Principal component analysis was used to construct the socioeconomic comprehensive score. Results The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, stroke, coronary heart disease, COPD and multi-morbidity in target persons was 50.6%, 10.2%, 6.4%, 5.5%, 5.4% and 16.1% respectively. The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes was much higher in female compared with male (both P<0.05), in contrast the prevalence of COPD was much higher in male than female( 2=5.499, P=0.019)The prevalence of hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, COPD and multi-morbidity was increased with age(all P<0.05);Minority ethnic were more likely to develop hypertension, coronary heart disease, COPD and multi-morbidity than Han ethnic(all P<0.05). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that older adults with lower socioeconomic position had higher probability of suffering from hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, COPD and multi-morbidity (all P<0.05). Conclusions There are significant socioeconomic differences between socioeconomic position and prevalence of five major chronic diseases and multi-morbidity among older adults in rural Yunnan province. Older adults with low socioeconomic position should be key population for future prevention and control of chronic diseases.