Characteristics of selected articles (n=14)
| No. of papers | n=6 | n=2 | n=1 | n=4 | n=1 | n=14 |
| Characteristic | USA | Canada | Australia | Korea | India | Total |
| Publication year | ||||||
| 2000–2005 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| 2006–2010 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 2011–2013 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 2014–2016 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| Population age (years) | ||||||
| ≥65 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 15–64 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
| All | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| Study design | ||||||
| Cross-sectional | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| Pooled cross-sectional | 1 | 1 | ||||
| How multimorbidity was studied | ||||||
| By number of NCDs | 6 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 13 | |
| Specific combinations of NCDs | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Secondary outcomes for multimorbidity | ||||||
| (a) Impact of multimorbidity on medicine utilisation | ||||||
| Yes | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||
| No | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| (b) Coping strategies for OOPE for Medicines | ||||||
| Yes | 2 | 2 | ||||
| No | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | |
| c) OOPE for other healthcare services | ||||||
| Yes | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | ||
| No | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| Quality assessment | ||||||
| High | 4 | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Moderate | 2 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Satisfactory | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
NCD, non-communicable disease ; OOPE, out-of-pocket expenditure.