Percentage of MM and CMM by characteristics for the study participants
| N* | MM | CMM | |||
| With MM n (%) | Without MM n (%) | With CMM n (%) | Without CMM n (%) | ||
| Age at baseline (years) | |||||
| 45–59 | 116 085 | 37 374 (32.2) | 78 711 (67.8) | 10 718 (9.2) | 105 367 (90.8) |
| 60–74 | 93 060 | 46 770 (50.3) | 46 290 (49.7) | 17 587 (18.9) | 75 473 (81.1) |
| 75+ | 42 544 | 26 940 (63.3) | 15 604 (36.7) | 9229 (26.3) | 31 371 (73.7) |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 117 059 | 52 750 (45.1) | 64 309 (54.9) | 17 463 (14.9) | 99 596 (85.1) |
| Female | 134 630 | 58 334 (43.3) | 76 296 (56.7) | 22 015 (16.4) | 112 615 (83.6) |
| Highest education | |||||
| No school certificate or other qualification | 29 344 | 15 328 (52.2) | 14 016 (47.8) | 6216 (21.2) | 23 128 (78.8) |
| School, intermediate, higher school or leaving certificate | 79 784 | 35 877 (45.0) | 43 907 (55.0) | 12 949 (16.2) | 66 835 (83.8) |
| Trade, apprenticeship, certificate or diploma | 80 141 | 35 328 (44.1) | 44 813 (55.9) | 12 291 (15.3) | 67 850 (84.7) |
| University degree or higher | 58 185 | 22 581 (38.8) | 35 604 (61.2) | 7246 (12.5) | 50 939 (87.5) |
| Speaks language other than English at home | |||||
| No | 227 541 | 102 934 (45.2) | 124 607 (54.8) | 36 354 (16.0) | 191 187 (84.0) |
| Yes | 24 145 | 8149 (33.8) | 15 996 (66.2) | 3124 (12.9) | 21 021 (87.1) |
| Born in Australia | |||||
| No | 61 166 | 22 623 (37.0) | 38 543 (63.0) | 8165 (13.3) | 53 001 (86.7) |
| Yes | 188 547 | 87 495 (46.4) | 101 052 (53.6) | 30 924 (16.4) | 157 623 (83.6) |
| Household income | |||||
| <$20 000 | 49 296 | 28 472 (57.8) | 20 824 (42.2) | 12 260 (24.9) | 37 036 (75.1) |
| $20 000–39 999 | 43 933 | 21 581 (49.1) | 22 352 (50.9) | 8030 (18.3) | 35 903 (81.7) |
| $40 000–69 999 | 44 453 | 17 613 (39.6) | 26 840 (60.4) | 5534 (12.4) | 38 919 (87.6) |
| $70 000 or more | 59 794 | 20 084 (33.6) | 39 710 (66.4) | 5072 (8.5) | 54 722 (91.5) |
| Won’t disclose | 54 213 | 23 334 (43.0) | 30 879 (57.0) | 8582 (15.8) | 45 631 (84.2) |
| Work status | |||||
| Not working | 124 277 | 69 118 (55.6) | 55 159 (44.4) | 28 029 (22.6) | 96 248 (77.4) |
| Part time | 47 577 | 17 175 (36.1) | 30 402 (63.9) | 5223 (11.0) | 42 354 (89.0) |
| Full time | 75 540 | 23 093 (30.6) | 52 447 (69.4) | 5600 (7.4) | 69 940 (92.6) |
| Current partner (married/de facto) | |||||
| No | 62 245 | 31 637 (50.8) | 30 608 (49.2) | 12 781 (20.5) | 49 464 (79.5) |
| Yes | 187 853 | 78 720 (41.9) | 109 133 (58.1) | 26 443 (14.1) | 161 410 (85.9) |
| Current smoker | |||||
| No | 233 130 | 103 890 (44.6) | 129 240 (55.4) | 36 883 (15.8) | 196 247 (84.2) |
| Yes | 18 552 | 7192 (38.8) | 11 360 (61.2) | 2595 (14.0) | 15 957 (86.0) |
| Adequate physical activity† | |||||
| No | 81 815 | 39 044 (47.7) | 42 771 (52.3) | 15 333 (18.7) | 66 482 (81.3) |
| Yes | 169 874 | 72 040 (42.4) | 97 834 (57.6) | 24 145 (14.2) | 145 729 (85.8) |
| Alcohol consumption | |||||
| No | 82 068 | 39 610 (48.3) | 42 458 (51.7) | 16 347 (19.9) | 65 721 (80.1) |
| Yes | 164 927 | 69 308 (42.0) | 95 619 (58.0) | 22 229 (13.5) | 142 698 (86.5) |
| BMI¶ category | |||||
| Underweight | 26 433 | 11 326 (42.8) | 15 107 (57.2) | 3972 (15.0) | 22 461 (85.0) |
| Normal weight | 79 040 | 30 429 (38.5) | 48 611 (61.5) | 9653 (12.2) | 69 387 (87.8) |
| Overweight | 91 879 | 40 234 (43.8) | 51 645 (56.2) | 13 684 (14.9) | 78 195 (85.1) |
| Obese | 54 337 | 29 095 (53.5) | 25 242 (46.5) | 12 169 (22.4) | 42 168 (77.6) |
| Self-reported good quality of life‡ | |||||
| No | 25 379 | 17 190 (67.7) | 8189 (32.3) | 8912 (35.1) | 16 467 (64.9) |
| Yes | 212 841 | 89 079 (41.9) | 123 762 (58.1) | 28 731 (13.5) | 184 110 (86.5) |
| Missing | 13 469 | 4815 (35.7) | 8654 (64.3) | 1835 (13.6) | 11 634 (86.4) |
| Psychological distress§ | |||||
| Low or moderate | 205 402 | 84 755 (41.3) | 120 647 (58.7) | 27 573 (13.4) | 177 829 (86.6) |
| High (22 or more) | 18 603 | 11 239 (60.4) | 7364 (39.6) | 5712 (30.7) | 12 891 (69.3) |
| Missing | 27 684 | 15 090 (54.5) | 12 594 (45.5) | 6193 (22.4) | 21 491 (77.6) |
| Needing help with daily activity | |||||
| No | 225 634 | 96 045 (42.6) | 129 589 (57.4) | 31 823 (14.1) | 193 811 (85.9) |
| Yes | 13 728 | 10 269 (74.8) | 3459 (25.2) | 5606 (40.8) | 8122 (59.2) |
| Missing | 12 327 | 4770 (38.7) | 7557 (61.3) | 2049 (16.6) | 10 278 (83.4) |
*Missing value: highest education (n=4235), speaks language other than English at home (n=3), born in Australia (n=1976), work status (n=4295), current partner (n=1591), current smoker (n=7), alcohol consumption (n=4694).
†Adequate physical activity was defined based on the amount of time spent on moderate and vigorous exercise in the week prior to the survey.
‡Self-reported good quality of life was defined if people reported their quality of life was good, very good or excellent in response to the self-rated quality of life question.
§Psychological distress was categorised based on the K10 score that ranges between 10 and 50.
¶Body mass index
CMM, complex multimorbidity; MM, multimorbidity.