Relationships of multimorbidity and income with hospital admissions in 3 health care systems

Associations of multimorbidity and income with hospital admission were investigated in population samples from 3 widely differing health care systems: Scotland (n = 36,921), China (n = 162,464), and Hong Kong (n = 29,187). Multimorbidity increased odds of admissions in all 3 settings. In Scotland, poorer people were more likely to be admitted (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.62; 95% CI, 1.41-1.86 for the lowest income group vs the highest), whereas China showed the opposite (aOR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.56-0.60). In Hong Kong, poorer people were more likely to be admitted to public hospitals (aOR = 1.68; 95% CI, 1.36- 2.07), but less likely to be admitted to private ones (aOR = 0.18; 95% CI, 0.13- 0.25). Strategies to improve equitable health care should consider the impact of socioeconomic deprivation on the use of health care resources, particularly among populations with prevalent multimorbidity.