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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Rachel CooperORCiD, Dr Jonny Bunn, Dr Sarah Richardson, Susan HillmanORCiD, Professor Avan SayerORCiD, Professor Miles WithamORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2024. Purpose: Greater transparency and consistency when defining multimorbidity in different settings is needed. We aimed to: (1) adapt published principles that can guide the selection of long-term conditions for inclusion in research studies of multimorbidity in hospitals; (2) apply these principles and identify a list of long-term conditions; (3) operationalise this list by mapping it to International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) codes. Methods: Review by independent assessors and ratification by an interdisciplinary programme management group. Results: Agreement was reached that when defining multimorbidity in hospitals for research purposes all conditions must meet the following four criteria: (1) medical diagnosis; (2) typically present for ≥ 12 months; (3) at least one of currently active; permanent in effect; requiring current treatment, care or therapy; requiring surveillance; remitting-relapsing and requiring ongoing treatment or care, and; (4) lead to at least one of: significantly increased risk of death; significantly reduced quality of life; frailty or physical disability; significantly worsened mental health; significantly increased treatment burden (indicated by an increased risk of hospital admission or increased length of hospital stay). Application of these principles to two existing lists of conditions led to the selection of 60 conditions that can be used when defining multimorbidity for research focused on hospitalised patients. ICD-10 codes were identified for each of these conditions to ensure consistency in their operationalisation. Conclusions: This work contributes to achieving the goal of greater transparency and consistency in the approach to the study of multimorbidity, with a specific focus on the UK hospital setting.
Author(s): Cooper R, Bunn JG, Richardson SJ, Hillman SJ, Sayer AA, Witham MD
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: European Geriatric Medicine
Year: 2024
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 06/03/2024
Acceptance date: 24/01/2024
Date deposited: 24/01/2024
ISSN (print): 1878-7649
ISSN (electronic): 1878-7657
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-024-00953-8
DOI: 10.1007/s41999-024-00953-8
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