Study on the relationship between health-related behaviors and chronic comorbidities of the elderly living alone in China.

Objective To understand the current situation and characteristics of chronic disease comorbidities among the elderly living alone in China, to analyze their comorbidity patterns, and to explore the relationship between health-related behaviors and chronic comorbidity in the elderly living alone, so as to provide basis for co-prevention and co-management of multiple diseases in the elderly. Methods Based on the data of the 2018 Chinese longitudinal healthy longevity survey (CLHLS), the network map was used to identify the common binary co-disease patterns of chronic diseases in the elderly living alone, and the Gephi software was used to visualize the chronic disease co-disease network of the elderly. Using Apriorism algorithm, the association rules were used to analyze the correlation between health-related behaviors and co-diseases of the elderly living alone, and multi-factor Logistic regression model was used to analyze the correlation between chronic diseases and health-related behaviors of the elderly living alone. Results A total of 1 905 elderly people living alone over 65 years were included, of whom 766 suffered from two or more chronic diseases, and the co-morbidity of chronic diseases was 40.2%. A total of 45 meaningful binary co-disease patterns with strong links were identified through network map analysis, of which 10 were related to hypertension and 7 were related to heart disease. The strong association rules among the association rules of health-related behaviors and co-diseases of the elderly living alone were poor sleep quality, no physical activity, no exercise, and no outdoor activity. The multivariate Logistic regression model showed that the elderly living alone with smoking (OR =1.791, 95% CI: 1.205-2.664) and alcohol consumption (OR=1.597, 95% CI: 1.084-2.353) had an increased risk of chronic co-disease compared with those without chronic diseases. Elderly people living alone with exercise (OR=0.132, 95% CI: 0.100-0.175), outdoor activities (OR=0.047, 95% CI: 0.035-0.063), good sleep quality (OR=0.469, 95% CI: 0.319-0.688), and adequate sleep (OR=0.648, 95% CI: 0.484-0.867) had a lower risk of chronic comorbidity. Conclusion The comorbidity pattern of the elderly living alone in China is complex and related to health-related behaviors. The risk of comorbidity in the elderly can be reduced by improving health-related behaviors, such as increasing exercise and outdoor activities and adjusting sleep duration and sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]