Refers to the presence of two or more chronic illnesses in a patient.
Prevalence estimates of at least 25% in the adult American population.
Prevalence estimates of multimorbidity increase with age.
55-98% of older adults have two or more diseases.
92 diseases have been identified as age-related, accounting for 51.3% of the entire global burden among adults.
Among older US patients, the prevalence of multimorbidity was 62% at age 65-74 years and 82% ages 85 years and older.
Patients with multimorbidity are at substantial risk for disability, death, and poor quality of life.
Leads to a poor quality of life, worse health outcomes, and higher healthcare use.
Associated with lower functional status and higher rates of hospital admissions.
Accounts for a disproportionate share of US healthcare expenditures.
Is different from the concept of comorbidity, which is defined by an index illness as the most important entity and studies of comorbidity generally focus on the cooccurrence of any additional disease entities and their effect on the treatment and prognosis of the index disease.
The concept of multi morbidity is more patient-entric with all morbidities regarded as of equal importance.
More emphasis is placed on function and well-being of patients as result of multimorbidities.
Associated with increased mortality.
Three major clusters: MI and and angina, diabetes with strong associations with heart failure, chronic kidney disease, liver failure, and stroke, and the third cluster, asthma, depression, and cancer were the epicenter.