Operationalizing multimorbidity in relation to mortality and physical function: findings from a prospective longitudinal cohort study.

A recent study examined different ways of measuring multimorbidity and their associations with mortality and physical function in a longitudinal cohort. The study used data from a British cohort born in 1946 and analyzed five different operationalizations of multimorbidity. The results showed that unweighted disease count and weighted disease count were the most predictive of mortality, functional independence, and physical capability. The study suggests that an unweighted disease count approach may be suitable for many epidemiological research questions as it is simple to estimate and as predictive as more complex approaches. However, it also highlights the importance of considering different approaches to operationalizing multimorbidity. Please note that this study has not yet undergone peer review. [Extracted from the article]