[Increased multimorbidity in patients in general practice in the period 2003-2009]

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of chronic multimorbidity and its increase in primary care. DESIGN: Descriptive longitudinal study. METHOD: We selected patients suffering from chronic pulmonary disease, chronic cardiovascular disease, or diabetes from a national representative general practice research database (LINH). For each year in the period 2003-2009, we calculated the prevalence of these separate conditions. We subsequently assessed the prevalence of multimorbidity and its increase for 4 different age groups (0-14, 15-44, 45-64, >/= 65 years). RESULTS: The percentage of all patients suffering from at least 1 of these chronic conditions increased from 12.6% in 2003 to 15.0% in 2009, an increase of almost 20%. The multimorbidity among these patients rose from 15.9% in 2003 to 18.3% in 2009. This increase in multimorbidity was found in all 3 chronic conditions under study and in all adult age groups. To what extent this increase was caused by improvements in morbidity registration could not be identified. CONCLUSION: There appears to be a considerable increase in recent years in the prevalence of chronic diseases; multimorbidity appears also to have increased. If this trend continues, in 2015 the multimorbidity among patients over 65 years of age with diabetes, chronic pulmonary and/or cardiovascular disease will be more than 30%.