The Article in Brief

Background: When patients have multiple medical conditions at the same time, it is referred to as multimorbidity or comorbidity. There has been little research examining whether multimorbidity is common in patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of multimorbidity in patients in the Saguenay region of Canada and to measure the severity of their medical conditions.
What This Study Found: Nine of 10 patients seeing family physicians have more than 1 chronic medical condition. Almost one half of patients had 5 or more chronic conditions. On average, older patients have more chronic conditions than younger patients.
Implications:
* Among patients seeing family physicians, having more than 1 medical condition is the rule, rather than the exception.
* Guidelines for medical practice that are designed for patients with a single medical condition might not be suitable for patients with multiple conditions.
* Treatment plans need to consider the unique needs of patients with multiple conditions.
* Clinicians, educators, researchers, policy makers, and others should pay special attention to the impact of multimorbidity as they make decisions about medical care and the delivery of health care services.