Investigating Sex Differences in Biopsychosocial Variables Among Those With Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity Using Data From the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Research Objectives: To examine sex differences between males and females in biopsychosocial variables among those with cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CM).

Design: This secondary-analysis utilizes an observational, case-control research design using data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA).

Setting: General community across Canada.

Participants: The CLSA included a stratified, random sample of approximately 51000 volunteer participants from across Canada aged 45–85 at the time of recruitment. Exclusion criteria includes residents in the 3 territories, persons living on federal First Nations reserves, full-time members of the Canadian Armed Forces, individuals living in institutions, people who were not able to respond in English or French or who had cognitive impairment. Additionally, we excluded participants with missing or incomplete data for our variables of interest.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework is used to organize the variables of interest, which include depressive symptoms, pain, high blood pressure, eyesight, limitations with activities of daily living (ADL), and social participation.

Results: Females with CM have a higher probability than males of reporting high depressive symptoms (females: 29% [95% CI: 27% to 31%], males: 21% [95% CI: 19% to 23%]), pain (females: 49% [95% CI: 47% to 52%), males: 41% [95% CI: 39% to 43%]) , and limitations with ADL (females: 27% [95% CI: 25% to 29%], males: 11% [95% CI: 10% to 13%]). Males with CM have a higher probability than females of reporting infrequent social participation (females: 18% [95% CI: 16% to 20%], males: 23% [95% CI: 21% to 25%]).

Conclusions: This study provides evidence on sex differences in the likelihood of reporting disability variables in individuals with CM. The findings reveal that females are more likely to report disabilities related to the body function and structure domain, as well as the activity domain of the ICF. Meanwhile, males are more likely to report infrequent participation. These insights into sex differences can inform targeted interventions and improve patient outcomes.

Author(s) Disclosures: None to report.