Prevalence Trends of Multimorbidity among Residents in Mainland China: a Meta-analysis

Background The estimation of the prevalence of multimorbidity and identification of high-risk populations can directly affect the corresponding rational allocation of public health resources. Objective To comprehensively describe the prevalence trends and population characteristics of multimorbidity among residents in mainland China from 1998-2019 through Meta-analysis. Methods The databases including Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform and VIP were searched for journal literature relevant to the prevalence of multimorbidity in mainland China from inception to 2022-04-30. Data extraction and quality evaluation were performed on the literature and meta-analysis was performed using Stata 14.0 software. The pooled prevalence of multimorbidity was calculated by using random effects model, and subgroup analysis of the prevalence of multimorbidity was conducted based on survey time (before 2004, 2004-2013, since 2014), gender, region (urban, rural), geographical area (east, central