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Email:
laura.rosella@utoronto.ca
Project ID:
24AD002
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Project Summary
One in three Canadians live with multimorbidity (the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions in one person), and this proportion has increased over time, particularly among younger adults and females. Multimorbidity is emerging earlier in the life course and constitutes a huge challenge to population health and health systems because it requires more complex healthcare plans and places a significant burden on the health system, affected individuals, and their caregivers. Asthma, a significant public health problem, disproportionately affects younger adults in Canada.
Cross-sectional studies have shown a higher prevalence of other chronic conditions, particularly respiratory diseases, in individuals with asthma compared to those without asthma, suggesting an association between asthma and multimorbidity. However, despite the increasing burden of multimorbidity and asthma in younger adults, and the possible relationship between asthma and multimorbidity, there have been limited longitudinal studies of multimorbidity in individuals with asthma in Canada. Hence, it is necessary to use longitudinal data to study the burden and pattern of multimorbidity in individuals with asthma beyond the focus on allergic or respiratory diseases so that preventive strategies can be instituted earlier in the life course.
Among adults with asthma in Ontario, our objectives are to: 1. Describe the prevalence and pattern of multimorbidity between 2013 and 2023, 2. Estimate the effect of severe asthma versus no severe asthma on the 5-year risk of multimorbidity and 3. Develop and internally validate a machine learning prediction model for the 5-year risk of multimorbidity.
The study’s findings could provide further insights into the multimorbidity burden in individuals with asthma, to inform targeted interventions, clinical practice, and health system planning, to improve patient care and population health outcomes, and lower health costs in Canada.