Combined impacts of multimorbidity and mental disorders on frequent emergency department visits: a retrospective cohort study in Quebec, Canada.

Combined impacts of multimorbidity and mental disorders on frequent emergency department visits: a retrospective cohort study in Quebec, Canada. CMAJ. 2019 Jul 02;191(26):E724-E732 Authors: Gaulin M, Simard M, Candas B, Lesage A, Sirois C Abstract BACKGROUND: Multimorbidity and mental disorders are independently associated with frequent visits to the emergency department (≥ 3 visits/yr), but their interaction has been little studied. We aimed to measure the interaction between mental disorders and physical multimorbidity with respect to frequent visits to the emergency department. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study of adults in Quebec from 2012 to 2016, using the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System. We assessed multimorbidity as the number of physical illnesses and mental disorders as serious (psychotic or bipolar disorders), common or absent, using data from 2012 to 2014. We counted emergency department visits from 2014 to 2015. We used logistic regression to estimate interaction on frequent visits to the emergency department from 2 perspectives: of public health (additive scale as differences in risk) and of individual patients (multiplicative scale as odds ratios). RESULTS: Each additional physical illness was associated with a greater increase in the absolute risk of frequent visits to the emergency department for people with mental disorders. Between 0 and ≥ 4 physical con...
Source: cmaj - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: CMAJ Source Type: research