Multimorbidity in clinical practice

Abstract

Multimorbidity is defined as two or more chronic conditions in the same individual. It is associated with significant impacts on quality of life, poor functional status, enhancement of the challenges of medical care and cost implications, unnecessary hospitalizations, increases the terms of hospital stay, and affects the evaluation of the interventions effectiveness. The article reviews the prevalence of multimorbidity, combinations of conditions in people with multimorbidity, especially, in patients with cardiovascular diseases. This review also identifies the emerging evidence to support policy for the management of people with multimorbidity and common comorbidities as presented in WHO manual, Guiding principles for the care of older adults with multimorbidity of the American Geriatrics Society and NICE clinical guidelines (NG56). The paper outlined key problems posed by current healthcare organization and experienced by patients with multimorbidity – the need for the development of accurate and reliable methods of comorbidity assessment and evidence-based outcome measurement criteria and tools.