Using EMR data for 375 patients registered as of 1 November 2017 with a Dunedin free ‘third sector’ primary healthcare clinic, these researchers sought to determine the prevalence of multimorbidity and multiple social disadvantage in relation to age, gender, deprivation and ethnicity. Multimorbidity affected around four-fifths (76.5%) of the cohort and half (49.9%) suffered from long-term physical and mental health comorbidities. Across all ethnicities and deprivation quintiles, the researchers found a high level of multimorbidity that increased with age. Of the 10 most prevalent long-term conditions, 7 were mental health conditions. Over half of the cohort (54.7%) had ≥1 multiple social disadvantage domain recorded.
