Amb motiu del tancament d'estiu, la validació de documents es reprendrà a partir del 28 d'agost de 2026. Disculpeu les molèsties.
Con motivo del cierre de verano, la validación de documentos se reanudará a partir del 28 de agosto de 2026. Disculpad las molestias
Due to the summer closure, document validation will resume starting August 28, 2026. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Files

ijerph-18-09216.pdf (1.1 MB)

Document type

Article

Version

Published version

Publication date

2021-09-01

Publication license

cc by (c) Stafford, Grant et al, 2021
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/180292

Combined Multimorbidity and Polypharmacy Patterns in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Health Care

Journal Title

Authors

Director/Tutor

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Related resource

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179216

Abstract

1) Background: The acquisition of multiple chronic diseases, known as multimorbidity, is common in the elderly population, and it is often treated with the simultaneous consumption of several prescription drugs, known as polypharmacy. These two concepts are inherently related and cause an undue burden on the individual. The aim of this study was to identify combined multimorbidity and polypharmacy patterns for the elderly population in Catalonia. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional study using electronic health records from 2012 was conducted. A mapping process was performed linking chronic disease categories to the drug categories indicated for their treatment. A soft clustering technique was then carried out on the final mapped categories. (3) Results: 916,619 individuals were included, with 93.1% meeting the authors' criteria for multimorbidity and 49.9% for polypharmacy. A seven-cluster solution was identified: one non-specific (Cluster 1) and six specific, corresponding to diabetes (Cluster 2), neurological and musculoskeletal, female dominant (Clusters 3 and 4) and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and renal diseases (Clusters 5 and 6), and multi-system diseases (Cluster 7). (4) Conclusions: This study utilized a mapping process combined with a soft clustering technique to determine combined patterns of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in the elderly population, identifying overrepresentation in six of the seven clusters with chronic disease and chronic disease-drug categories. These results could be applied to clinical practice guidelines in order to better attend to patient needs. This study can serve as the foundation for future longitudinal regarding relationships between multimorbidity and polypharmacy.

Subject

Persones grans, Morbiditat, Aprenentatge automàtic

Subject (English)

Older people, Diseases, Machine learning

Citation

Collections

Articles publicats en revistes (Institut d'lnvestigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL))

Citation

STAFFORD, Grant, et al. Combined Multimorbidity and Polypharmacy Patterns in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Primary Health Care. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021. Vol. 18, num. 17, pags. 9216. ISSN 1660-4601. [consulted: 16 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/180292

Export metadata

JSON - METS

Share record