Multimorbidity And Health Outcomes In Older Adults In Ten European Health Systems, 2006-15

Abstract

Despite the increase in awareness of chronic disease, little is known about whether multimorbidity-defined as two or more coexisting chronic conditions-has had a diminished impact on health in Europe in the past decade. We used multiple cross-sectional data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to estimate changes in the prevalence of multimorbidity and in its association with health outcomes in ten European countries between 2006-07 and 2015. We found that the prevalence of multimorbidity rose from 38.2 percent in 2006-07 to 41.5 percent in 2015. Over the ten-year study period we also found a marginal reduction of the impact of multimorbidity on primary care visits and functional capacity. We did not find a reduction of its impact on hospital admissions and quality of life. Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Spain were the countries that showed the largest reduction in the impact of multimorbidity on health outcomes. Multimorbidity continues to pose challenges for European health care systems, with only marginal improvement on health care use and health outcomes since 2006-07.

Keywords: Chronic disease management models; Elderly; Europe; Functional capacity; Healthcare utilisation; Quality of life; multimorbidity.