Year:
Applicant:
Institution:
Email:
griffith@mcmaster.ca
Keywords:
activities of daily living (ADL)
chronic disease
functional disability
multimorbidity
social participation
Project ID:
150306
Approved Project Status:
Project Summary
While much is known about the effect of individual chronic conditions on people’s ability to undertake their everyday activities, less is known about effect of having multiple chronic conditions. In Canada today the majority of older adults live with more than one chronic condition. As well, it is likely that chronic conditions (or combinations of chronic conditions) may impact everyday activities differently in men compared to women, and people who are middle-aged adults (45 to 55 years old) compared to older adults (65-74 or 75-85 years old). We will use data from the CLSA to better understand which combinations of chronic conditions impact everyday activities in middle-aged and older men and women in Canada. Understanding these differences could help to increase the efficiency and quality of clinical care and improve public health.
Project Findings
We used data from the CLSA to better understand which combinations of chronic conditions impact everyday activities in middle-aged and older men and women in Canada.
The project found that lists with risk factors tended to have higher estimates of the percent with multimorbidity but has little impact with whether people thought their health was good or bad and how they functioned physically and socially. On the other hand, having symptoms in the list was related to prevalence, patient-important outcomes, and sex differences. Our results could help researchers understand why there are differences in estimates of multimorbidity and helps us to know which lists to use to define multimorbidity for clinical, policy, and health service interventions.
