Multimorbidity Epidemiology and Increasing Burden of Healthcare

Multimorbidity has generally been defined as the co-existence of multiple chronic conditions in an individual and affected individuals have been shown to be less likely to receive optimal treatment and more likely to suffer fatal or disabling disease outcomes. Within the primary healthcare services of most high-income countries, multimorbidity is considered the norm and not the exception. Evidence suggests that it is often more prevalent in those of lower socioeconomic status and may be influenced by other variables such as age, gender, and several health-related behaviours. Multimorbidity also appears to be increasingly common in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the burden of non-communicable disease and injuries is rising and augmenting existing burdens of communicable diseases, maternal and child health problems, and nutritional conditions. These populations in LMICs will suffer the greatest burden of multimorbidity, while having the least capacity to manage it. However, there is a well-recognized dearth of high-quality research in multimorbidity.

This Research Topic aims to collect articles across epidemiology, health services research, and population health in the field of physical and mental multimorbidity that address relevant research questions. The submissions should address novel aspects of multimorbidity epidemiology and management or present new insights into its various areas. This Research Topic provides interdisciplinary access to a better understanding of multimorbidity occurrence, progression, healthcare, and outcomes on a population level in the field.

We welcome a series of original research, perspective, editorial, study protocol, brief reports and systematic review articles from researchers in the field covering (but not limited to) the following topics:

• Trends in cardiovascular morbidity and mortality
• National, international, and global challenges of multimorbidity
• Common patterns and clusters of multimorbidity
• Socioeconomics factors and lifestyles for occurrence and development of multimorbidity
• Environmental factors for occurrence and development of multimorbidity
• Multimorbidity prevention strategies
• Interventional studies addressing multimorbidity therapy and management
• Polypharmacy and multimorbidity
• Health seeking behaviour for patients with multimorbidity
• Multimorbidity management in primary care and family medicine practices
• Sex and gender implications in multimorbidity epidemiology
• Latest developments in multimorbidity epidemiology