The multimorbidity dead end: how we got here and possible ways out

Selby et al discuss multimorbidity. The common definition for multimorbidity, using the number of diagnoses, is useful for epidemiologists but not clinicians in their management of individual patients. A 1976 German publication coined 'Multimorbidity' to describe the co-occurrence of multiple diseases or medical problems. Other terms followed, such as comorbid and polypathy. Observational cohorts based on the number of physical or mental morbidities have shown that patients with multiple diagnoses, on average, experience more fragmented care, suffer from more treatment side effects, and have a lower quality of life than those with one or no diagnoses.