February 22, 2013 – 9:06 am
By Martin Fortin
You are invited to have at look at the results of our latest literature search for published papers on multimorbidity. We used the search term “multimorbidity”, but also its variant “multi-morbidity” and the expression “multiple chronic diseases”.
As in our previous posting covering the May – August 2012 period, we found many new papers on multimorbidity published from September to December. As the number of publications in the list is too long for this venue, a PDF file can be accessed following this link.
All references are also included in our library. Feel free to share with anyone interested in multimorbidity.
February 7, 2013 – 10:03 am
By the Chronic Disease Surveillance and Monitoring Division, Public Health Agency of Canada (CDSMD-PHAC)
The need for a consist and coherent approach to measure multimorbidity was the main message arising from a meeting hosted by the Chronic Disease Surveillance and Monitoring Division of the Public Health Agency of Canada on December 14, 2012 in Ottawa, ON. The Agency convened several leaders working in the area of multimorbidity in Canada to discuss the conceptualization and definition of multimorbidity from a public health surveillance perspective.
Multimorbidity leaders agreed that while some efforts have been made to establish standardised tools and techniques to assess multimorbidity, there has been a lack of consensus and multimorbidity measures to date have been characterized by high heterogeneity. Without consistent methodologies to measure multimorbidity, public health practitioners and clinicians may receive little or inconsistent information about the scope and burden of multimorbidity and what can be done to address the problem.
Leaders emphasized the need to define multimorbidity in a way that will resonate with both public health policy makers and clinicians and they encouraged continued attention toward the issues at the heart of multimorbidity in Canada, such as complexity of clinical care, cases of concurrent mental illness, and the common risk factors and determinants which precipitate development of multiple diseases.
The Chronic Disease Surveillance and Monitoring Division is looking forward to working with other multimorbidity leaders to help meet this challenge, and to advance the measurement and reporting of multimorbidity in Canada.
