By Martin Fortin
Our search for papers on multimorbidity that were published during the period March-June 2014 has been completed. As in previous searches, we found many new papers and the list is too long for this venue. Therefore, we have prepared a PDF file that can be accessed following this link.
Probably, there are some publications that were not detected by our search strategy using the terms “multimorbidity”, “multi-morbidity” and the expression “multiple chronic diseases”, but we are sure that most publications on the subject are included in the list.
All references are also included in our library. Feel free to share with anyone interested in multimorbidity.
By Martin Fortin
Many studies have unequivocally shown a close relationship between lifestyle factors and individual chronic diseases. More recently, the association of lifestyle risk factors with multimorbidity has been explored for physical activity, obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, and nutrition. Some mixed results have been reported. However, the body mass index has been consistently found to be associated with multimorbidity.
In a recent study published in BMC Public Health [1], we analysed the association of accumulating risk factors in the same individual and multimorbidity. We found that accumulating unhealthy lifestyle factors progressively increased the likelihood of multimorbidity. The cross-sectional design of the study did not allow making a causal inference. However, the increase in the likelihood of multimorbidity with the combined effect of unhealthy lifestyle factors may be used to hypothesise that a person-centered approach promoting healthy lifestyles aiming to maximize the number of healthy lifestyles could be an intervention in the fight against multimorbidity.
1. Fortin M, Haggerty J, Almirall J, et al., Lifestyle factors and multimorbidity: a cross sectional study. BMC Public Health 2014;14:686.
