Multimorbidity clusters in patients with chronic obstructive airway diseases in the EpiChron Cohort

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 4784 - 9
• Main Authors: Carmona-Pírez, Jonás, Poblador-Plou, Beatriz, Ioakeim-Skoufa, Ignatios, González-Rubio, Francisca, Gimeno-Feliú, Luis Andrés, Díez-Manglano, Jesús, Laguna-Berna, Clara, Marin, Jose M, Gimeno-Miguel, Antonio, Prados-Torres, Alexandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 26.02.2021; Nature Publishing Group UK; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Allergic rhinitis; Apnea; Asthma; Chronic illnesses; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cluster Analysis; Comorbidity; Drug use; Electronic medical records; Epidemiology; Female; Health problems; Health risks; Humans; Lung diseases; Male; Mental disorders; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Mortality; Mortality risk; Multimorbidity; Musculoskeletal diseases; Neurological diseases; Obstructive lung disease; Population studies; Prevalence; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - epidemiology; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - mortality; Respiratory tract diseases; Retrospective Studies; Rhinitis; Sleep; Sleep apnea; Sleep disorders; Spain - epidemiology; Substance use; Young Adult; Spain
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83964-w

Chronic obstructive airway diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, rhinitis, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are amongst the most common treatable and preventable chronic conditions with high morbidity burden and mortality risk. We aimed to explore the existence of multimorbidity clusters in patients with such diseases and to estimate their prevalence and impact on mortality. We conducted an observational retrospective study in the EpiChron Cohort (Aragon, Spain), selecting all patients with a diagnosis of allergic rhinitis, asthma, COPD, and/or OSA. The study population was stratified by age (i.e., 15-44, 45-64, and ≥ 65 years) and gender. We performed cluster analysis, including all chronic conditions recorded in primary care electronic health records and hospital discharge reports. More than 75% of the patients had multimorbidity (co-existence of two or more chronic conditions). We identified associations of dermatologic diseases with musculoskeletal disorders and anxiety, cardiometabolic diseases with mental health problems, and substance use disorders with neurologic diseases and neoplasms, amongst others. The number and complexity of the multimorbidity clusters increased with age in both genders. The cluster with the highest likelihood of mortality was identified in men aged 45 to 64 years and included associations between substance use disorder, neurologic conditions, and cancer. Large-scale epidemiological studies like ours could be useful when planning healthcare interventions targeting patients with chronic obstructive airway diseases and multimorbidity.