About

Multimorbidity is a global public health issue due to rapidly ageing populations and is placing a significant burden on health systems due to complex treatment needs. Research on multimorbidity is still insufficient, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) including in Thailand. In recent years, Thailand has been undergoing a health transition and the prevalence, incidence, and associated factors of multimorbidity in Thailand are not fully understood. This research aims to analyse Thai Cohort Study (TCS) and Thai hospital data to determine the common patterns, prevalence, incidence, geographical distribution, and mortality from multimorbidity in Thailand.

The patterns, prevalence, incidence, and mortality of multimorbidity in Thailand will be analysed and their associations with socio-demographic factors, health status and individual lifestyles. The geographic distribution of the morbidities in Thailand will also be analysed to identify clusters of multi-morbid people and analyse what factors in their geographic location can be contributing. It is hoped that the results obtained from this thesis would help local governments in Thailand to develop and promote policies to prevent and treat multimorbidity, thereby improving the quality of life of the Thai population.

Bio

Xiyu Feng received her Master of Medicine degree from Southwest University in China in 2017. The research during her this master’s degree was the molecular mechanisms of brown adipose tissue in rats affected by olanzapine/statins. She received her Master of Public Health (Advanced) degree from the Australian National University (ANU) in Australia in 2019. The research was health risk factors and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cerebrovascular disorder (CVA) in Thai Cohort Study (2005-2013).

She started her PhD at the Research School of Population Health (RSPH) at the ANU in 2020. Her research aims to provide more effective information on the prevention and treatment of multimorbidity by documenting and analysing the characteristics of socio-demographics and geographic distribution of incidence, prevalence, mortality and associated risk or protective factors in Thailand to help improve local guidelines on the control of multimorbidity.