Background: Numerous chronic conditions, such as coronary health diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions often occur in combinations that deteriorate the quality of life of the people and pose economic challenges to the country’s health system. Multimorbidity prevalence varies globally due to various biological and social risk factors which can be accentuated or mitigated for populations in migration. This study investigated the prevalence and predictors of multimorbidity amongst a group of migrant Asian Indian women living in Australia.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design using convenience sampling investigated the multimorbidity risk factors among first generation migrant Asian Indian women in Australia. This study was part of a larger study titled “Measuring Acculturation and Psychological Health of Senior Indian Women Living in Australia” that was conducted in Sydney, Australia. Data were collected using validated instruments as well as investigator developed questions. Women completed questionnaire surveys either by themselves or through the assistance of bilingual coordinators as English was not their first language.

Results: 26% of the participants had one chronic condition and 74% had multimorbidities. The prevalence of individual conditions included cardiovascular disease 67.0%, osteoarthritis 57.6%, depression 37.4%, diabetes 31.5%, chronic respiratory conditions 10.8%, cancer 4.9%, and nephrological problems 1.47%. In the unadjusted model, factors such as increasing age, education level, employment status, living arrangements, low physical activity, and elements of acculturative stress were significantly associated with multimorbidity. Multi-variable analysis identified the acculturative stress factor of ‘threat to ethnic identity’ as a predictor of multimorbidity.

Conclusions: Identifying the key determinants of multimorbidity in older adults from a migrant community with pre-existing risk factors can assist with the development of culturally appropriate strategies to identify people at risk of health conditions and to mitigate the health effects of acculturative stress. 

Study design, setting and sample 

A cross-sectional descriptive design using convenience sampling was conducted among migrant Asian Indian women in Australia. Ethical approval was obtained from the Local health district Human Research Ethics Committee.  This study was part of a larger study titled “Measuring Acculturation and Psychological Health of Senior Indian Women Living in Australia” that was conducted in a metropolitan Local Health District (LHD) in Sydney, Australia during 2013. Non-probability sampling was used to recruit Asian Indian women who were members of the Resourceful Australian and Indian Network (RAIN). RAIN is a community organisation that was established in 2006 to provide support to migrants originally from the Indian subcontinent and at the time had a membership of 300.

Women were included in the study if they are aged between 50-100 years, spoke English, Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati and/or Tamil and were willing to complete a questionnaire. Women were informed about the project through an announcement and flyer being distributed at the RAIN meetings. Women who expressed an interest were given a subject information sheet and asked if they preferred to self-administer the questionnaire survey in English or required the assistance of bilingual coordinators who spoke their language and could assist them to undertake the surveys (see attached questionnaire). 

This questionnaire was used as part of the larger study titled “Measuring Acculturation and Psychological Health of Senior Indian Women Living in Australia” that was conducted in a metropolitan Local Health District (LHD) in Sydney, Australia.