Analysis of multimorbidity patterns in perimenopausal women based on medical examination data

The concurrent presence of multiple chronic diseases, termed multimorbidity, is increasingly prevalent among patients with chronic illnesses. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in middle-aged women, yet has not received adequate attention. The objective of this study was to investigate the pattern of multimorbidity and its changes over time in perimenopausal women.

A longitudinal study was conducted on the coexistence of chronic diseases in 3990 middle-aged women aged 40-65 years. The primary analytical tools were association rule mining and cross-lagged panel modeling, applied to the comprehensive medical examination data of the cohort.

At the first medical examination, 77.72% of participants were diagnosed with two or more chronic diseases, a figure that rose to 86.98% by the last examination. The most frequently observed multimorbidity combination pair under strong association rules is obesity and dyslipidemia. Additionally, the findings indicated that central obesity significantly influences lipid composition.

This study highlights the elevated prevalence of multimorbidity in perimenopausal women and the added complexity of endocrine-related disorders at this life stage. There is an urgent need to develop personalized health management strategies for this demographic and to monitor and intervene in their health status in order to achieve healthy aging for perimenopausal women.