Association between number of chronic diseases and socioeconomic, demographic, and health-related behavioural characteristics in patients with diabetes
| Diabetes only N=2947 (34.8%) | Diabetes and 1 other chronic disease N=3734 (44.1%) | Diabetes and 2 other chronic diseases N=1332 (15.7%) | Diabetes and ≥3 chronic diseases N=458 (5.4%) | Overall N=8471 | P value | |
| Age | <0.001 | |||||
| Age, years | 58.8 (11.0) | 63.7 (10.8) | 65.5 (10.2) | 67.0 (9.7) | 62.4 (11.1) | |
| Sex | <0.001 | |||||
| Male | 1486 (50.4%) | 1648 (44.1%) | 566 (42.5%) | 190 (41.5%) | 3890 (45.9%) | |
| Female | 1461 (49.6%) | 2086 (55.9%) | 766 (57.5%) | 268 (58.5%) | 4581 (54.1%) | |
| Education level | <0.001 | |||||
| Primary school and below | 1120 (38.0%) | 1669 (44.7%) | 607 (45.6%) | 210 (45.9%) | 3606 (42.6%) | |
| Secondary school | 1579 (53.6%) | 1773 (47.5%) | 628 (47.1%) | 209 (45.6%) | 4189 (49.5%) | |
| Junior college and above | 248 (8.4%) | 292 (7.8%) | 97 (7.3%) | 39 (8.5%) | 676 (8.0%) | |
| Employment status | <0.001 | |||||
| Employed | 1325 (45.0%) | 1172 (31.4%) | 314 (23.6%) | 81 (17.7%) | 2892 (34.1%) | |
| Retired | 1065 (36.1%) | 1769 (47.4%) | 694 (52.1%) | 285 (62.2%) | 3813 (45.0%) | |
| Student | 3 (0.1%) | 1 (0.03%) | 1 (0.1%) | 1 (0.2%) | 6 (0.1%) | |
| Unemployed | 67 (2.3%) | 66 (1.8%) | 23 (1.7%) | 11 (2.4%) | 167 (2.0%) | |
| Jobless* | 487 (16.5%) | 726 (19.4%) | 300 (22.5%) | 80 (17.5%) | 1593 (18.8%) | |
| Smoking status | <0.001 | |||||
| Daily smoker | 670 (22.8%) | 627 (16.8%) | 196 (14.7%) | 53 (11.6%) | 1546 (18.3%) | |
| Occasional smoker | 83 (2.8%) | 104 (2.8%) | 27 (2.0%) | 8 (1.8%) | 222 (2.6%) | |
| Non-smoker | 2192 (74.4%) | 3001 (80.4%) | 1107 (83.2%) | 396 (86.7%) | 6696 (79.1%) | |
| Frequency of alcohol consumption | <0.001 | |||||
| At least 3 times a week | 269 (9.1%) | 300 (8.0%) | 86 (6.5%) | 21 (4.6%) | 676 (8.0%) | |
| 1 or 2 times a week | 133 (4.5%) | 145 (3.9%) | 40 (3.0%) | 8 (1.7%) | 326 (3.9%) | |
| Less than once a week | 221 (7.5%) | 183 (4.9%) | 62 (4.7%) | 15 (3.3%) | 481 (5.7%) | |
| No drinking | 2323 (78.9%) | 3100 (83.2%) | 1144 (85.9%) | 414 (90.4%) | 6981 (82.5%) | |
| Physical examination | 0.241 | |||||
| Yes | 1722 (58.5%) | 2267 (60.7%) | 808 (60.7%) | 266 (58.2%) | 5063 (59.8%) | |
| No | 1220 (41.5%) | 1466 (39.3%) | 524 (39.3%) | 191 (41.8%) | 3401 (40.2%) | |
| Health insurance | <0.001 | |||||
| No public health insurance | 66 (2.2%) | 73 (2.0%) | 17 (1.3%) | 5 (1.1%) | 161 (1.9%) | |
| UEBMI | 1327 (45.0%) | 1845 (49.4%) | 689 (51.7%) | 271 (59.2%) | 4132 (48.8%) | |
| URBMI | 441 (15.0%) | 625 (16.7%) | 229 (17.2%) | 73 (15.9%) | 1368 (16.1%) | |
| NRCMS | 1102 (37.4%) | 1176 (31.5%) | 386 (29.0%) | 106 (23.1%) | 2770 (32.7%) | |
| Others† | 11 (0.4%) | 15 (0.4%) | 11 (0.8%) | 3 (0.7%) | 40 (0.5%) | |
| Socioeconomic status | <0.001 | |||||
| Quartile 1 (lowest) | 729 (24.7%) | 926 (24.8%) | 279 (20.9%) | 75 (16.4%) | 2009 (23.7%) | |
| Quartile 2 | 765 (26.0%) | 960 (25.7%) | 309 (23.2%) | 118 (25.8%) | 2152 (25.4%) | |
| Quartile 3 | 779 (26.4%) | 968 (25.9%) | 371 (27.9%) | 129 (28.2%) | 2247 (26.5%) | |
| Quartile 4 (highest) | 674 (22.9%) | 880 (23.6%) | 373 (28.0%) | 136 (29.7%) | 2063 (24.4%) | |
| Region | <0.001 | |||||
| East | 1175 (39.9%) | 1685 (45.1%) | 565 (42.4%) | 173 (37.8%) | 3598 (42.5%) | |
| Central | 1039 (35.3%) | 1211 (32.4%) | 418 (31.4%) | 153 (33.4%) | 2821 (33.3%) | |
| West | 733 (24.9%) | 838 (22.4%) | 349 (26.2%) | 132 (28.8%) | 2052 (24.2%) | |
| Number of people in the household | <0.001 | |||||
| Population | 3.3 (1.5) | 3.3 (1.6) | 3.2 (1.6) | 3.3 (1.6) | 3.3 (1.6) | |
| Impoverished | 0.984 | |||||
| Yes | 107 (3.6%) | 137 (3.7%) | 46 (3.5%) | 16 (3.5%) | 306 (3.6%) | |
| No | 2838 (96.4%) | 3593 (96.3%) | 1286 (96.5%) | 442 (96.5%) | 8159 (96.4%) | |
Data are shown as mean±SD deviation or n (%).
*Jobless includes urban and rural residents who cannot be employed due to disability or long-term bedridden illness or beyond the working age, while unemployed refers to those who have the ability to work but have not been given employment opportunities.
†Includes Government Employee Health Insurance and Government Labor Health Insurance.
NRCMS, New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme; UEBMI, Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance; URBMI, Urban Resident Basic Medical Insurance.