The impact of varying the number and selection of conditions on estimated multimorbidity prevalence: A cross-sectional study using a large, primary care population dataset

by Clare MacRae, Megan McMinn, Stewart W. Mercer, David Henderson, David A. McAllister, Iris Ho, Emily Jefferson, Daniel R. Morales, Jane Lyons, Ronan A. Lyons, Chris Dibben, Bruce Guthrie BackgroundMultimorbidity prevalence rates vary considerably depending on the conditions considered in the morbidity count, but there is no standardised approach to the number or selection of conditions to include. Methods and findingsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using English primary care data for 1,168,260 participants who were all people alive and permanently registered with 149 included general practices. Outcome measures of the study were prevalence estimates of multimorbidity (defined as ≥2 conditions) when varying the number and selection of conditions considered for 80 conditions. Included conditions featured in ≥1 of the 9 published lists of conditions examined in the study and/or phenotyping algorithms in the Health Data Research UK (HDR-UK) Phenotype Library. First, multimo rbidity prevalence was calculated when considering the individually most common 2 conditions, 3 conditions, etc., up to 80 conditions. Second, prevalence was calculated using 9 condition-lists from published studies. Analyses were stratified by dependent variables age, socioeconomic position, and se x. Prevalence when only the 2 commonest conditions were considered was 4.6% (95% CI [4.6, 4.6]p
Source: PLoS Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research