Table 2 Sample distribution by background characteristics among multimorbid older adults in rural and urban India (n = 7,608)

Sociodemographic

 Age

 ≤ 0.001

  Young-old (60–69 years)

2,402

56.15

1,940

58.27

  Old-old (70–79 years)

1,320

30.86

1,120

33.62

  Oldest-old (80 + years)

556

12.99

270

8.11

 Sex

 ≤ 0.005

  Male

1,961

45.85

1,373

41.24

  Female

2,317

54.15

1,957

58.76

 Education

 ≤ 0.001

  No education/ Primary not completed

3,019

70.58

1,238

37.19

  Primary

525

12.27

523

15.7

  Secondary

261

6.1

388

11.66

  Higher

473

11.05

1,181

35.46

 Religion

 ≤ 0.001

  Hindu

3,425

80.07

2,662

79.93

  Muslim

457

10.68

454

13.63

  Christian

176

4.1

111

3.34

  Others

220

5.15

103

3.1

 Caste

 ≤ 0.001

  Scheduled caste (SC)

869

20.31

305

9.16

  Scheduled tribe (ST)

226

5.29

51

1.52

  Other backward class (OBC)

2,004

46.84

1,616

48.53

  Others

1,179

27.57

1,358

40.79

Health and behavioural factors

 ADL disability

0.090

  No

2,751

64.31

2,466

74.05

  Yes

1,527

35.69

864

25.95

 IADL disability

 ≤ 0.001

  No

1,595

37.29

1,705

51.21

  Yes

2,683

62.71

1,625

48.79

 Self-rated health

 ≤ 0.001

  Very poor

335

7.83

149

4.47

  Poor

1,476

34.5

934

28.06

  Fair

1,799

42.05

1,547

46.47

  Good

597

13.97

608

18.26

  Very Good

71

1.65

92

2.75

 Pain

 ≤ 0.001

  No

2,134

49.89

1,972

59.22

  Yes

2,144

50.11

1,358

40.78

 Body Mass Index

 ≤ 0.001

  Underweight

825

19.29

135

4.06

  Normal

1,913

44.72

1,271

38.18

  Overweight

862

20.16

1,053

31.62

  Obese

329

7.69

539

16.19

  Missing

348

8.14

332

9.96

 Physical activity status

 ≤ 0.001

  Never

3,266

76.34

2,675

80.33

  Frequent

753

17.6

510

15.3

  Rare

259

6.06

145

4.37

 Tobacco consumption

 ≤ 0.001

  No

2,566

59.99

2,577

77.38

  Yes

1,712

40.01

753

22.62

 Alcohol consumption

 ≤ 0.001

  No

3,720

86.95

2,978

89.42

  Yes

558

13.05

352

10.58

 Health insurance coverage

  No

3,387

79.17

2,750

82.59

 ≤ 0.001

  Yes

891

20.83

580

17.41

Psycho-social factors

 Perceived discrimination

 ≤ 0.001

  No

3,446

80.55

2,767

83.08

  Yes

832

19.45

563

16.92

 Marital Status

0.053

  Currently in union

2,646

61.84

1,913

57.46

  Currently not in union

1,632

38.16

1,416

42.54

 Working status

 ≤ 0.001

  Never worked

1,160

27.12

1,447

43.45

  Retired

2,209

51.64

1,421

42.67

  Currently working

909

21.25

462

13.89

 Ill treatment

 ≤ 0.001

  No

4,009

93.72

3,203

96.19

  Yes

269

6.28

127

3.81

 Community involvement

0.270

  No

4,045

94.55

3,164

95.0

  Yes

233

5.45

167

5.0

Household factors

 MPCE quintile

 ≤ 0.001

  Poorest

616

14.41

527

15.81

  Poor

834

19.51

574

17.23

  Middle

905

21.14

580

17.41

  Richer

879

20.55

811

24.36

  Richest

1,043

24.39

839

25.18

 Region

 ≤ 0.001

  North

627

14.66

368

11.05

  West

709

16.58

803

24.12

  Northeast

100

2.33

54

1.61

  East

1,181

27.61

516

15.51

  Central

576

13.46

293

8.81

  South

1,085

25.36

1,296

38.9

Total

4,278

56.23

3,330

43.77