Economic Burden of Multimorbidity and Polypharmacy Among Geriatric Patients: A Single-Center Experience From Odisha, India

Background Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are common in older adults and pose a considerable challenge to the health and social care system. They are complex and interrelated concepts in geriatric care that require early detection and patient-centered shared decision-making by multidisciplinary, team-led comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) across all health and social care settings. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the economic burden of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among geriatric patients. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2021 to June 2022 involving a total of 470 male and female respondents aged more than 60 years. Five different departments of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla were selected for the study. Data were collected by interviewing and clinically examining 470 randomly selected geriatric patients who came to different outpatient departments of VIMSAR, Burla. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS software version 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). P-values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results Of the 470 study participants, farming (126, 26.8%)and other (149, 31.7%) occupations were the maximum. Overall, 97 (20.6%) respondents belonged to the upper socioeconomic class, 148 (31.5%) to the upper middle class, 131 (27.9%) to the lower middle class, and 94 (20%) to the lower socioeconomic class. A single chronic disease was higher in respondents from the upper class at 87 (89.69%) and upper middle class at 128 (86.48%). Multimorbidity diseases were higher in the lower middle (28, 21.37%) and lower (24, 25.53%) income group patients. Diabetes was more common in males at 110 (30.81%) in comparison to females at 7 (6.19%). Hypertension was also higher in males at 90 (25.21%) compared to females at 21 (2.65%). Chronic kidney disease was seen in 41 (28.01%) males and 13 (11.50%) females. People with a smokeless tobacco habit (165, 35.11%) and a family history of diabetes (99, 21.06%) and hypertension (117, 24.89%) were suffering from single chronic diseases. Conclusions Multimorbidity has a high incidence in old age. It is associated with substantially higher healthcare utilization and social care costs among older adults in Odisha. With the incidence of multimorbidity rising, especially as the population ages, we require healthcare systems that are developing to deal with the rising challenges related to multimorbidity and the relevant healthcare and societal costs.