- People with multiple chronic diseases also had worse physical function.
- “The unknowns of a complex care plan can cause anxiety.”
CHICAGO — As the global population ages, more research is focusing on the impact of complex diseases, the presence of two or more long-term health conditions.
A new study from Northwestern Medicine found that people with multiple chronic conditions report persistently high levels of anxiety, depression, and decreased physical function. Compared to white study participants, people who identified as non-white had worse health-related quality of life as multiple chronic health conditions increased, the study found.
“As people get older, they develop high blood pressure and that's not the end of the story. These symptoms, while often very manageable, begin to accumulate and, unfortunately, take an associated negative impact on quality of life. side effects,” said corresponding study author Eileen Graham, associate professor of social medicine and social sciences. Determinants of Health Division, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
What begins as mild symptoms in early adulthood can become more severe as you age or become worse as you develop other symptoms. For example, a person may be diagnosed with high blood pressure in midlife and later develop type 2 diabetes or arthritis.
“There are so many unknowns in complex treatment plans, such as the need to collaborate with multiple doctors, taking contraindicated medications, and managing possible complications, which can lead to anxiety for patients.” Graham said. “Between that and the impairment in physical functioning associated with multiple illnesses, all of this may be contributing to increased reporting of depressive symptoms.”
“Serious racial health disparities”
The most alarming finding was the decreased quality of life due to multiple illnesses among racial minorities, Graham said.
“We were disappointed, but not entirely surprised, to see that the impact of multimorbidity on quality of life was much more pronounced for non-white people,” Graham said. . “This points to a growing need for health systems to understand how they can better support people in underrepresented communities.”
The study will be published on January 29 in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological and Social Sciences..
Higher degrees of depression have been reported in certain illnesses
Graham said the subjects in the study experienced a wide range of chronic illnesses. These include angina pectoris, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver disease, thyroid disease, celiac disease, chronic kidney disease, gout, arthritis, peripheral artery disease, diabetes, pulmonary fluid, bronchitis, cataracts, hearing loss, impaired hearing, and hip joint disease. These include broken bones, asthma, and emphysema. And cancer.
The study found that depression was more common in people with cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, metabolic, and respiratory diseases, but also in people with gastrointestinal disease, kidney and ear disease, and cataracts. Depression did not occur in people with these conditions. People with respiratory illnesses initially tended to have higher rates of depression, but their depression improved over time.
The following are ways to help older adults reduce these effects.
Mr Graham said further research was needed to examine what support older people needed to reduce these effects. Graham said it could be helpful to increase collaboration between health care providers to reduce patient anxiety around treatment plans, or to encourage the health system to help patients build stronger support networks. said that support could be helpful.
This study used data from the Longitudinal Study of Health Literacy and Cognitive Function in Older Adults, a prospective cohort study of adults in late middle age and older adulthood. Participants were enrolled from one academic general medicine practice and six federally qualified health centers in the Chicago area from August 2008 to October 2010.
Throughout the study, participants reported anxiety, depression, physical functioning, chronic conditions, and sociodemographic characteristics using the Patient Reported Outcomes Information System (PROMIS).
The title of the study is “Longitudinal associations between multimorbidity and patient-reported quality of life.'' Other Northwestern authors include Michael S. Wolfe; David Serra; Daniel K. Mroczek. Lily Pieramisi. Laura Curtis. Lauren Opsusnick. Rebecca Lovett. Rachel O'Connor. and Marquita Lewis-Thames.
Research reported in this publication was supported in part by the National Institute on Aging (grants P30AG059988 and K01AG070107). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
