Patterns of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and the risk of depressive symptoms in a longitudinal cohort of middle-aged and older Chinese

•A higher number of CMDs had an additive dose effect on depressive symptoms.•Associations of different types of CMDs varied with regard to depressive symptoms.•Stroke, heart disease, and diabetes showed both individual and additive effects.•Hypertension and dyslipidemia only showed effects combined with other CMDs.