A research group from the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN) explores the concept of multimorbidity for further research into long term care.

Description:
The concept of multimorbidity was first published in 1976 in Germany and remained almost entirely restricted to German publications for 14 years. Between 1976 and 1990 only 72 articles had multimorbidity in their text of which 66 were written in German. In 1990, the concept began its internationalization through research.

How to cite:

Le Reste JY, Nabbe P, Lygidakis C, et al. A research group from the European General Practice Research Network (EGPRN) explores the concept of multimorbidity for further research into long term care. J Am Med Dir Assoc. Feb 2013;14(2):132-133.

It was an addition to the concept of comorbidity. Comorbidity was defined as any disease or risk factors that could interact with one main disease with the effect of making it worse. Multimorbidity has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as people being affected by two or more chronic conditions.6 The intention of WHO was to look at all conditions in one individual that could impact on that individual’s global health status. However, the word “condition” was not sufficiently clear for practical purposes (for instance, whether hypertension, which is medicated may be considered a “condition” in this sense) and could lead to numerous interpretations.

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