Sanghamitra Pati|Subhashisa Swain|Job Metsemakers|J. André Knottnerus|Marjan van den Akker
Pattern and severity of multimorbidity among patients attending primary care settings in Odisha, India
Public Health Foundation of India|Institute of Public Health|Public Health Foundation of India|Institute of Public Health|Maastricht University|Maastricht University|Maastricht University|KU Leuven
multimorbidity increasingly primary concern healthcare systems globally substantial implications patient outcomes resource cost critical knowledge gap exists magnitude multimorbidity primary care practice low middle income countries available information limited prevalence india primary care forms bulk health care delivery provided public community health center private general practice setting undertook study identify multimorbidity patterns relate patterns severity among primary care attendees odisha state india total 1649 patients attending 40 primary care facilities interviewed using structured multimorbidity assessment questionnaire multimorbidity patterns dyad triad identified 21 chronic conditions functional limitation assessed proxy measure severity mean severity score pattern determined adjusting age leading dyads younger age group ie 1829 years acid peptic disease arthritis chronic back achetuberculosis chronic lung disease older age groups frequent combinations hypertension arthritis chronic lung diseasevision difficulty arthritis chronic back ache triad acid peptic disease arthritis chronic backache common men age groups tuberculosis lung diseases associated significantly higher ageadjusted mean severity score poorer functional ability among men arthritis chronic backache chronic lung disease vision impairment observed highest severity whereas women reported higher severity combinations hypertension chronic back ache arthritis given paucity studies multimorbidity patterns low middle income countries future studies seek assess reproducibility findings populations settings another task potential implications different multimorbidity clusters designing care protocols currently protocols disease specific hardly taking comorbidity account