Psychological Distress and Multimorbidity in Primary Care
Ann Fam Med Fortin et al.
4: 417
The Article in Brief
Background Psychological distress can increase the effects of illness and contribute to health problems. Even so, little is known about the relationship between psychological distress and multimorbidity (that is, having more than 1 chronic disease). This is a study of the relationship between psychological distress and multiple chronic diseases in family medicine patients. It looks at both the number of chronic diseases a patient has and the severity of the diseases.
What This Study Found Patients with multiple chronic diseases that are more severe had more psychological distress than patients with multiple chronic diseases that are less severe. The risk of psychological distress was almost 5 times higher in patients with the highest burden of disease. Psychological distress was not related to the number of chronic diseases a patient has.
Implications
- This is the first study to analyze the relationship between multimorbidity and psychological distress in a family practice setting, taking severity of illnesses into account.
- Psychological distress may be present in patients with multiple chronic diseases. Clinicians should consider this as they manage the care of these complex patients.
