Target Population for Clinical Trials on Multimorbidity: Is Disease Count Enough?

Since the beginning of the last century, noncommunicable diseases have progressively replaced infectious diseases, emerging as the dominant health care burden. This epidemiologic transition, along with improvements in disease control, triggered an overflow of multimorbidity, which is defined as the co-occurrence of multiple diseases or conditions in a single individual. These changes have been posing serious problems to the health care systems still rooted in single disease –oriented care. The prevalence of multimorbidity is high and increases with age, affecting 60% to 90% of people aged 65 or older,1 and is associated with a number of negative outcomes, including mortality, disability, poor quality of life, and high health care costs.
Source: Journal of the American Medical Directors Association - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research