Abstract
Objectives
To examine sex differences in prevalent comorbidity and frailty across age and European regions.
Methods
This is a cross-sectional study based on 113,299 Europeans aged 50+ participating in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe from 2004–2005 to 2015. Sex differences in the Comorbidity Index and the Frailty Phenotype were investigated using ordinal logistic regressions.
Results
European women had generally higher odds of prevalent comorbidity (OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.07–1.15) and frailty (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.51–1.62). Sex differences increased with advancing age. No overall sex difference in comorbidity was found in Western Europe, but women had more comorbidity than men in Eastern (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.18–1.44), Southern (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.15–1.30), and Northern (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16) Europe. Women were frailer than men in all regions, with the largest sex difference in Southern Europe (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.72–1.96).
Conclusions
European women are frailer and have slightly more comorbidity than European men lending support for the male–female health survival paradox.
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Acknowledgements
This paper uses data from SHARE Waves 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, see Börsch-Supan et al. (2013) for methodological details (Börsch-Supan et al. 2013). The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through FP5 (QLK6-CT-2001-00360), FP6 (SHARE-I3: RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE: CIT5-CT-2005-028857, SHARELIFE: CIT4-CT-2006-028812) and FP7 (SHARE-PREP: No. 211909, SHARE-LEAP: No. 227822, SHARE M4: No. 261982). Additional funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01_AG09740-13S2, P01_AG005842, P01_AG08291, P30_AG12815, R21_AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG_BSR06-11, OGHA_04-064, HHSN271201300071C) and from various national funding sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org).
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This study was part of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a cross-national panel database of microdata on health, socioeconomic status and social and family networks of more than 120,000 individuals aged 50 or older covering 27 European countries and Israel. The SHARE study is under continuous ethics review. Waves 1–4 were approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Mannheim. Wave 4 and onwards were approved by the Ethics Council of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (MPG). Further information on SHARE is presented in Börsch-Supan et al. (2013) and Börsch-Supan and Jürges (2005) and on the SHARE webpage (www.share-project.org).
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Ahrenfeldt, L.J., Möller, S., Thinggaard, M. et al. Sex Differences in Comorbidity and Frailty in Europe. Int J Public Health 64, 1025–1036 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01270-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-019-01270-9