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Author Archives: Amaia Calderón Larrañaga

Assessing and measuring chronic multimorbidity in the older population

By Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga and Davide L Vetrano
Multimorbidity is one of the main challenges facing health systems worldwide. While its definition as “the simultaneous presence of two or more chronic diseases” is well established, its operationalization is not yet agreed. This study aimed to provide a clinically-driven comprehensive list of chronic conditions to be included when measuring multimorbidity.
Based on a consensus definition of chronic disease, all codes from the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) were classified as chronic or not by an international team of physicians and epidemiologists specialized in geriatrics and family medicine, and were subsequently grouped into broader categories. Last, we showed proof of concept by applying the classification to older adults from the Swedish National study of Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K).
An initial number of 918 chronic ICD-10 codes were identified and grouped into 60 chronic disease categories. In SNAC-K, 88.6% had ≥2 of these 60 disease categories, 73.2% had ≥3, and 55.8% had ≥4. Once validated, this operational measure of multimorbidity may enable the advancement and evolution of conceptual and theoretical aspects of multimorbidity that will eventually lead to better care.
The publication can be found in the following link:

Polypharmacy patterns: unravelling systematic associations between prescribed medications



By Amaia Calderón and Alexandra Prados-Torres

We would like to share with you an article recently published in PLOS ONE [1] by our research group, EpiChron. The study demonstrates the existence of non-random associations in drug prescription, resulting in patterns of polypharmacy that exist in a significant proportion of the population. We believe that the information discovered would further the development and/or adaptation of clinical patient guidelines to patients with multimorbidity who are taking multiple drugs.

[1] Calderon-Larranaga A, Gimeno-Feliu LA, Gonzalez-Rubio F, Poblador-Plou B, Lairla-San Jose M, Abad-Diez JM, Poncel-Falco A, Prados-Torres A. Polypharmacy Patterns: Unravelling Systematic Associations between Prescribed Medications. PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e84967.

Multimorbidity, polypharmacy, referrals, and adverse drug events

By Amaia Calderón and Alexandra Prados-Torres

A paper entitled “Multimorbidity, polypharmacy, referrals, and adverse drug events: are we doing things well?” was recently published in the British Journal of General Practice. The work was carried out by members of the EpiChron Research Group on Chronic Diseases of the Aragon Health Sciences Institute in Spain, and its objective was to shed light on the interrelations between multimorbidity, polypharmacy, multiple referrals to specialised care, and the occurrence of adverse drug events (ADEs), in the context of a national healthcare system.

Results of this observational study demonstrate that multimorbidity, polypharmacy and multiple referrals are strongly and independently associated to occurrence of ADEs, even after adjusting for potential confounders. As the clinical situation of the patient becomes more complex and requires the intervention of different specialists, the likelihood of a lack of coordination among professionals and potential interactions among prescribed medications could favour the occurrence of undesirable effects, such as ADEs.

As indicated by Starfield et al[1] a decade ago, it is necessary, now more than ever, to design strategies that focus on individual’s health problems in their totality, rather than examining each of the patient’s illnesses individually. This approach is important given the high frequency of multimorbidity in all stages of life, the proved risk of interactions between illnesses and medications or among medications, and the acknowledged impact of not doing so both for the healthcare system and the health of the patient.

This research, financed by the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III, is framed within a wider project focused on the epidemiology of multimorbidity, utilization patterns and the response of healthcare systems to populations suffering from it.


[1] Starfield B, Lemke KW, Bernhardt T, et al. Comorbidity: implications for the importance of primary care in ‘case’ management. Ann Fam Med 2003; 1(1): 8–14.