Multimorbidity and Comorbidity are now separate MESH headings

Nicholson et  al. in a commentary point out that confusion continues within clinical epidemiology articles and elsewhere as to how to reliably distinguish between ‘comorbidity’ and ‘multimorbidity’. Although differentiated in a paper by van der Akker (AK was an author) [1], only now in January 2018 has MeSH designated definitions and a different classification term for multimorbidity, distinct from comorbidity. Nicholson et al. re-emphasize that this is more than a semantic difference. While both terms focus on the occurrence of multiple chronic conditions within the same individual, the term ‘ ‘comorbidity’’ refers to the combined effects of additional conditions in reference to an index chronic condition (such as comorbidity in diabetes mellitus, stroke, depression or cancer).

Source: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology - December 4, 2018 Category: Epidemiology Authors: Peter Tugwell, J. Andr é Knottnerus Tags: Editorial Source Type: research