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PubMed2000

Early-onset of illicit substance use is associated with greater axis-II comorbidity, not with axis-I comorbidity.

In the present study the relationship between early-onset (<age of 18) of illicit drug use disorder, DSM axis-I disorders, and axis-II symptomatology was investigated in order to identify a subclassification of these patients. Patients with drug use disorders (n=174) attending an inpatient detoxification clinic comprised the study sample. Before detoxification treatment, all patients were administered the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) in order to investigate drug use severity and severity of drug related problems. After detoxification the patients were administered the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) for assessing DSM axis-I disorders and the Questionnaire on Personality Traits (VKP) for assessing DSM axis-II symptomatology. Except for medical problems, no differences between the early- and late-onset groups on addiction severity and addiction related problems were found. Furthermore, no associations between lifetime prevalence of any axis-I disorder and onset group were observed. In contrast, patients with an early-onset of substance use disorder had significantly higher antisocial, borderline, and passive-aggressive personality symptomatology than patients with a late-onset. These results are discussed in relation to the classification of drug dependent patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Importance of comorbidity in head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Patients with head and neck cancer are staged according to the morphology of the tumor with little or no attention given to the importance of the other diseases, illnesses, or conditions. These other conditions are generally referred to as comorbidities. Although not a feature of the cancer itself, comorbidity is an important attribute of the patient with cancer. Comorbidity has direct impact on the care of patients, selection of initial treatment, and evaluation of treatment effectiveness. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the importance of comorbidity in head and neck cancer. Specifically, the aims are 1) to demonstrate the burden of comorbidity among head and neck cancer patients by comparing the incidence of none, mild, moderate, and severe comorbidity among patients with head and neck cancer to patients with cancers of the colorectum, lung, breast, gynecological sites, or prostate, 2) to demonstrate the independent impact of comorbidity on overall survival, and 3) to demonstrate the importance of comorbidity in the assessment of initial treatment effectiveness. STUDY DESIGN: This was a prospective cohort study of the impact of comorbidity on head and neck cancer patients presenting for treatment between January 1995 and December 1996. METHODS: In 1994, the author trained cancer registrars at an academic teaching hospital to code comorbidity from the medical record of new patients using a standard comorbidity index. Standard statistical techniques, including multivariable analysis, were used to compare and contrast the burden of comorbidity for patients with different cancers. Life survival techniques and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to assess the independent prognostic impact of comorbidity. Further, the technique of conjunctive consolidation was used to augment the TNM system with comorbidity information, to more completely assess the impact of different initial treatments for patients with head and neck cancers. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 3,378 patients with cancers of the head and neck (341), colorectum (307), lung (655), breast (483), gynecological sites (482), and prostate (1,110). The percentage of head and neck cancer patients with moderate to severe comorbidity was 21%; this degree of comorbidity burden was second only to patients with lung (40%) and colorectal (25%) cancer. There was a significant relationship between severity of comorbidity and overall survival (log-rank test, chi2 = 15.75; P < .0013). For cancers of the head and neck, lung, breast, and prostate the prognostic significance of comorbidity remained even after controlling for other factors, such as age and TNM stage. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that comorbidity is an important feature of patients with head and neck cancer. Valid instruments exist to measure and classify the overall severity of comorbidity. The scientific evaluation of treatment and the care of patients are impeded by a rigid adherence to a staging system based solely on morphological descriptions of the cancer while ignoring suitable descriptions of the patient. The author believes that the addition of comorbidity information will improve the value of cancer statistics and the care of cancer patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Prognostic importance of comorbidity in a hospital-based cancer registry.

CONTEXT: Patients with cancer often have other medical ailments, referred to as comorbidity. Comorbidity may impact treatment decision-making, prognosis, and quality of care assessment. OBJECTIVE: To assess whether comorbidity information can provide important prognostic information in a hospital-based cancer registry. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: An observational prospective cohort study using comorbidity data collected by trained hospital-based cancer registrars. Comorbidity was obtained through medical record review using the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation 27, a validated chart-based comorbidity instrument. A total of 17,712 patients receiving care between January 1, 1995, and January 31, 2001, for the primary diagnosis of new cancer of the prostate, lung (nonsmall cell), breast, digestive system, gynecological, urinary system, or head and neck were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Duration in months of overall survival. RESULTS: A total of 19,268 patients were included in the study; median duration of follow-up was 31 months. Of these patients, 1556 (8.0%) were excluded due to missing or unknown data. Severity of comorbidity strongly influenced survival in a dose-dependent fashion and the impact of comorbidity was independent of cancer stage. Compared with patients without comorbidity, the adjusted hazard ratio associated with mild comorbidity was 1.21 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-1.30), moderate comorbidity was 1.86 (95% CI, 1.73-2.00), and severe comorbidity was 2.56 (95% CI, 2.35-2.81). Adjusted Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed that at any point in time the patients with more severe levels of comorbidity had worse survival (partial chi2(3) due to comorbidity, 523.54; P<.001). Model discrimination ranged from 0.71 for head and neck to 0.86 for prostate cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity is an important independent prognostic factor for patients with cancer. The inclusion of comorbidity in hospital-based cancer registries will increase the value and use of observational research.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Can condition-specific health surveys be specific to spine disease? An analysis of the effect of comorbidities on baseline condition-specific and general health survey scores.

STUDY DESIGN: This is an observational cross-sectional study of 26,290 patients seen and evaluated in the 25 centers of the National Spine Network. OBJECTIVE: To explore the correlation between medical and psychosocial comorbidities, and baseline Short-Form 36 Health Status questionnaire (SF-36) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (Musculoskeletal Outcomes Data Evaluation and Management Systems version with scales reversed so that a score of 100 represents no disability, and a score of 0 represents severe disability) scores in spine patients. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: It remains unclear whether general health questionnaires or condition-specific surveys are superior for evaluating spine patients (Spine 2000;25:3100-3). Most clinicians would suspect that comorbidities (medical and psychosocial) play a significant role in the presentation, treatment, and outcome of spine patients. Yet, it has been difficult to quantify specifically the association of comorbidities with traditional health status instrument scores for spine patients. METHODS: Initial visit (baseline) health questionnaires were analyzed. Patients were stratified according to the number of self-reported comorbidities. Analysis of variance was performed to assess the difference in mean health status across comorbidity groups. Multiple linear regressions were used to identify the most influential individual comorbidities on baseline functional survey scores. RESULTS: There is an associated decrease in baseline physical component summary (PCS) (from the SF-36) and ODI scores with the addition of each comorbidity. For the range of zero to > or =7 comorbidities, the PCS score decreases from 33.3 to 23.2 (P < 0.001). The average baseline ODI score for patients with zero comorbidities was 62.4, decreasing to 42.0 in the group with > or =7 comorbidities (P < 0.001). The strongest association was seen with the medical comorbidities of smoking, frequent headaches, osteoarthritis, and osteoporosis (P < 0.001). However, the association with psychosocial comorbidities(e.g., self-rated health, active compensation case, depression) (P < 0.001) was higher for both health status measures. Health status measures in patients with lumbar problems show that these patients are more impacted by their disease than patients with cervical or thoracic spine problems (P < 0.001), although the correlation with comorbidities is smaller for the lumbar group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Traditional medical comorbidities correlate with both SF-36 (e.g., PCS) general health survey scores as well as disease-specific ODI scores. However, psychosocial comorbidities such as poor self-rated health (SF-1), an active compensation case, and low education level have a higher association than traditional medical comorbidities on these health status measures. The results show that the type of survey (disease-specific e.g., ODI, vs. generic e.g., SF-36) used may be less important than the need to assess and control for psychosocial and medical comorbidities when any patient-reported health survey is used in the spine population.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Considering comorbidity in social phobia.

BACKGROUND: Considering comorbidity in social phobia contributes to our understanding of causal pathways and improved classifications for psychiatric disorders. Comorbidity also has important clinical implications. While a number of studies have investigated comorbidity in social phobia, only one other study has used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) and considered comorbidity in subtypes of social phobia. This study evaluated lifetime social phobia comorbidity with other common mental disorders as well as comorbidity in subtypes of social phobia. We also considered whether social fears, reported by respondents with social phobia, had an earlier or later age of onset than other disorders. METHODS: Data came from the Mental Health Supplement to the Ontario Health Survey, a survey of 8,116 Canadian respondents, ages 15-64. Psychiatric diagnoses were determined using the CIDI. This instrument is considered more sensitive than earlier instruments for diagnosing social phobia. RESULTS: Fifty-two percent of respondents with lifetime social phobia reported at least one other lifetime mental disorder and 27% reported three or more lifetime mental disorders. Social phobia, in this sample, is strongly comorbid with anxiety and affective disorders, and moderately comorbid with substance abuse disorders. When two social phobia subgroups were considered, the largest odds ratios were found among the not-exclusively-speaking social phobia group. This subgroup would include most of the respondents with a generalized form of social phobia. Age of onset of social fears, in respondents with social phobia, preceded age of onset of the comorbid disorder in 32% of cases with comorbid anxiety disorder, 71% of cases with comorbid affective disorder and 80% of cases with comorbid substance dependence/abuse disorder. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity and relative age of onset among respondents with social phobia in this study are generally consistent with previous epidemiologic studies. Clinicians should be vigilant for comorbidity in social phobia and should select treatments that target the full range of comorbid disorders. Early intervention or prevention of social fears or social phobia has the potential to reduce the risk of comorbid disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Quantifying comorbidity in peritoneal dialysis patients and its relationship to other predictors of survival.

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity is the single most important determinant of outcome in patients on renal replacement therapy. The aims of this study were to evaluate a semi-quantitative approach to comorbidity scoring in predicting survival of patients commencing peritoneal dialysis (PD), and to establish the interaction between this and other known predictors of patient outcome, in particular membrane function, residual renal function (RRF) and plasma albumin. METHODS: Comorbidity was recorded in a prospective, single centre cohort study of 303 patients commencing on PD. Using seven disease domains, chosen to reflect the dominance of cardiovascular morbidity in the end-stage renal failure population, comorbidity was graded as '0' when absent, '1' when one or two, and '2' when three or more conditions were present. The Wright comorbidity index, which includes age within the scoring method, was also evaluated. RRF, plasma albumin and peritoneal solute transport were measured every 6 months. Patients were censored at death. RESULTS: Median survival according to grade of comorbidity was 105, 42 and 29 months, respectively (P<0.0001), with good separation of the actuarial survival curves. Using Cox regression, the addition of age and the grade of comorbidity to Kt/V(urea), solute transport and plasma albumin increased the predictive power of the model. All were independent predictors of outcome with the exception of albumin. The Wright comorbidity index also enhanced the Cox model, although was not as powerful as when age and comorbidity were considered independently. At baseline, RRF was not different according to comorbidity unless diabetes was considered separately. Diabetics started with higher RRF, but after 6 months on PD this was the same as non-diabetic patients. Otherwise, initial rate of decline of RRF was similar across the comorbid grades, although the impact of higher drop-out due to earlier loss in patients with more comorbidity may have disguised earlier loss in these patients. Peritoneal solute transport tended to be higher in patients with increased comorbidity at baseline, chi(2) 13.8, P=0.032, and this was sustained with time on treatment. CONCLUSION: Comorbidity has a quantitative effect on survival that is independent of age, RRF and membrane function in PD patients. Comorbidity also appears to be associated with increased solute transport at the start of treatment, which is sustained. With the exception of diabetes, grade of comorbidity does not have a profound effect on loss of RRF.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1998

Impact of comorbidity on outcome of young patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Comorbid conditions have a significant impact on the actuarial survival of patients with head and neck cancer. However, no studies have evaluated the impact of comorbidity on tumor- and treatment-specific outcomes. This study was performed to evaluate the impact of comorbidity, graded by the Kaplan-Feinstein comorbidity index (KFI) on the incidence and severity of complications, disease-free interval, and tumor-specific survival in patients undergoing curative treatment for head and neck cancer. METHODS: A multi-institutional, retrospective cohort of 70 patients 45 years of age and under with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) presenting over an 11-year period was studied. RESULTS: Advanced comorbidity (KFI grade 2 or 3) was present in 21 patients (30%). Patients with advanced comorbidity did not differ from patients with low-level comorbidity (KFI grades 0 or 1) in sex distribution, race, presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, tobacco use, location of primary lesion, stage at presentation, pathologic differentiation of the tumor, or type of initial treatment. The overall incidence of treatment-associated complications was similar between the groups (57% versus 49%; p > 0.05), but a higher proportion of patients with advanced comorbidity developed high-grade complications (24% versus 6%; p = .04). The median disease-free interval (11.1 months versus 21.6 months; p = .045) and tumor-specific survival (13.7 months versus 57.6 months; p = .03) was poorer for patients with advanced comorbidity. The effects of comorbidity on survival remained significant even after adjusting for the confounding effects of HIV status and tumor stage (p = .05). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of comorbid conditions has a significant impact on tumor- and treatment-specific outcomes. Although the presence of advanced comorbid conditions is not associated with an increase in the rate of treatment-associated complications, complications tend to be more severe in this population. More importantly, advanced comorbidity has a detrimental effect on the disease-free interval and tumor-specific survival in patients with head and neck cancer, independent of other factors. This suggests that comorbidity may impact on tumor behavior, presumably by altering the host's response to cancer. Accordingly, to be more predictive and reliable, the current staging system for head and neck cancer should include a description of the patient's comorbidity.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Impact of comorbidity on lung cancer survival.

Lung cancer is associated with smoking and age, both of which are associated with comorbidity. We evaluated the impact of comorbidity on lung cancer survival. Data on 56 comorbidities were abstracted from the records of a cohort of 1,155 patients. Survival effects were evaluated with Cox regression (outcome crude death). The adjusted R(2) statistic was used to compare the survival variation explained by predictive variables. No comorbidity was observed in 11.7% of patients, while 54.3% had 3 or more (mean 2.97) comorbidities. In multivariate analysis, 19 comorbidities were associated with survival: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, previous metastatic cancer, thyroid/glandular diseases, electrolyte imbalance, anemia, other blood diseases, dementia, neurologic disease, congestive heart failure, COPD, asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, liver disease, gastrointestinal bleeding, renal disease, connective tissue disease, osteoporosis and peripheral vascular disease. Only the latter was protective. Some of the hazards of comorbidities were explained by more directly acting comorbidities and/or receipt of treatment. Stage explained 25.4% of the survival variation. In addition to stage, the 19 comorbidities explained 6.1%, treatments 9.2%, age 3.7% and histology 1.3%. Thirteen uncommon comorbidities (prevalence <6%) affected 21.2% of patients and explained 3.5% of the survival variation. Comorbidity count and the Charlson index were significant predictors but explained only 2.5% and 2.0% of the survival variation, respectively. Comorbidity has a major impact on survival in early- and late-stage disease, and even infrequent deleterious comorbidities are important collectively. Comorbidity count and the Charlson index failed to capture much information. Clinical practice and trials need to consider the effect of comorbidity in lung cancer patients.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2001

General medical and psychiatric comorbidity among HIV-infected veterans in the post-HAART era.

We examined the prevalence of HIV, general medical, and psychiatric comorbidities by age based on a recent multisite cohort of HIV infected veterans receiving care: the Veterans with HIV/AIDS 3 Site Study (VACS 3). VACS 3 includes 881 adult patients with HIV infection enrolled between June 1999 and July 2000. Providers reported their patients' CDC-defined HIV comorbidities, general medical comorbidities (based on Duke and Charlson comorbidity scales), and psychiatric comorbidity. Mean age of participants was 49 years and 54% were African-American. The most common HIV comorbidities were oral candidiasis (21%), peripheral neuropathy (16%), and herpes zoster (16%). The most common general medical comorbidities included chemical hepatitis (53%), hypertension (24%), and hyperlipidemia (17%). The mean number of HIV and general medical comorbidities experienced by patients were respectively 1.1 and 1.4 (P < .001). Older (> or = 50 years) HIV-infected patients experienced a greater number of general medical comorbidities than those < 50 years (respectively 1.7 versus 1.2, P < .001). There was no significant difference in mean HIV comorbidity number by age. Based on patient report, 46% had significant depressive symptoms (> or = 10 on 10-item CES-D) and 21% reported at-risk drinking (> or = 8 on AUDIT). Providers reported 32% of patients had anxiety, 4% mania, 4% schizophrenia, and 11% cognitive impairment/dementia. General medical and psychiatric comorbidities constituted a higher disease burden for HIV-infected veterans than HIV comorbidities. Whether these comorbidities are due to antiretroviral drug toxicity or are age or lifestyle-associated conditions, the substantial prevalence of these "non-HIV" comorbidities suggest an important role for general medical and psychiatric management of HIV-infected patients.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed2006

The impact of comorbidities on the change in short-form 36 and oswestry scores following lumbar spine surgery.

STUDY DESIGN: This is an observational study of 3482 patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery from the National Spine Network. OBJECTIVES: To explore the influence of medical and psychosocial comorbidities on the change in Short-form 36 (SF-36) general health survey and condition-specific Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: It remains unclear as to which type of health instrument is more appropriate for monitoring improvement in patients who undergo lumbar spine surgery. Most clinicians would suspect that comorbidities (medical and psychosocial) play a significant role in the outcome of spine patients. Yet, it has been difficult to quantify specifically the impact of comorbidities on the responsiveness of traditional health status instruments for spine patients. METHODS: Analysis of variance was performed to assess the difference in the change in survey scores across comorbidity groups for the population of National Spine Network patients who had undergone lumbar spine surgical intervention and completed 3-month and 1-year follow-up surveys. Multiple linear regressions were used to identify the most influential individual comorbidities on the change scores. RESULTS: Comorbidities had a significant impact on the change in scores at 3 months and 1 year. The average change in bodily pain, physical function, physical component summary scores of the SF-36, as well as ODI scores decreased in response to surgery as the number of comorbidities increased. Psychosocial comorbidities such as an active compensation case, self-rated poor health, and smoking exerted large effects on the change in survey scores after surgery (P < 0.003). Medical disorders such as headaches, depression, and nervous system disorders were also highly influential (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The negative impact of medical and psychosocial comorbidities on the change in SF-36 general health survey and condition-specific ODI scores, despite spine surgery, highlights the need for researchers and clinicians to consider these comorbidities when using these, and perhaps all, health survey instruments and interpreting these scores after surgery. Contrary to current assumptions regarding condition-specific health surveys, medical and psychosocial comorbidities similarly affect the generic SF-36 and condition-specific ODI. Further studiesare needed to determine if spine surgery outcomes can be improved by specifically addressing potentially modifiable comorbidities, which negatively impact survey scores, or whether comorbidity burden should play a role in the selection process for surgical intervention. Failure to incorporate consideration of medical and psychosocial comorbidities into preoperative discussions can be a failure to allow our patients (and ourselves) to have realistic expectations and, consequently, the best possible outcome from their treatment choice.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Axis I psychiatric comorbidity and its relationship to historical illness variables in 288 patients with bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Bipolar disorder often co-occurs with other axis I disorders, but little is known about the relationships between the clinical features of bipolar illness and these comorbid conditions. Therefore, the authors assessed comorbid lifetime and current axis I disorders in 288 patients with bipolar disorder and the relationships of these comorbid disorders to selected demographic and historical illness variables. METHOD: They evaluated 288 outpatients with bipolar I or II disorder, using structured diagnostic interviews and clinician-administered and self-rated questionnaires to determine the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, comorbid axis I disorder diagnoses, and demographic and historical illness characteristics. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-seven (65%) of the patients with bipolar disorder also met DSM-IV criteria for at least one comorbid lifetime axis I disorder. More patients had comorbid anxiety disorders (N=78, 42%) and substance use disorders (N=78, 42%) than had eating disorders (N=9, 5%). There were no differences in comorbidity between patients with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder. Both lifetime axis I comorbidity and current axis I comorbidity were associated with earlier age at onset of affective symptoms and syndromal bipolar disorder. Current axis I comorbidity was associated with a history of development of both cycle acceleration and more severe episodes over time. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with bipolar disorder often have comorbid anxiety, substance use, and, to a lesser extent, eating disorders. Moreover, axis I comorbidity, especially current comorbidity, may be associated with an earlier age at onset and worsening course of bipolar illness. Further research into the prognostic and treatment response implications of axis I comorbidity in bipolar disorder is important and is in progress.

Adult↗
PubMed2025

Comorbidity alters the genetic relationship between anxiety disorders and major depression.

BACKGROUND: Comorbid anxiety disorders (ANX) and major depression (MD) have worse clinical outcomes than either disorder alone. Analysis of genomic data based on comorbidity status may reveal more precise biological pathways and causal relationships with potential clinical implications. We investigated the genetic relationship between ANX and MD with and without mutual comorbidity. METHODS: We leveraged data from UK Biobank to perform disorder-specific genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of ANX-only (n=189,422) and MD-only (n=194,339) and generate polygenic risk scores (PRS). The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort (MoBa, n = 130,992) served to test the associations of PRS with diagnoses. MD and ANX GWAS, including comorbidities (MD-comorbid and ANX-comorbid), were used for comparison. Genetic correlations were compared by comorbidity status, and Mendelian randomization was employed to assess causal relationships. RESULTS: The MD-only PRS showed a stronger association with MD-only compared to ANX-only cases (Z=3.74; Padjusted=0.002); however, MD-comorbid PRS did not show a significant difference (Z=2.71; Padjusted=0.08). The genetic correlation between ANX-only and MD-only was 0.53, lower than between ANX-comorbid and MD-comorbid (0.90). ANX-only showed a causal relationship with MD-only (Padjusted=0.015), but not vice versa, and contrasted the bidirectional causal relationship (Padjusted=2.9e-12, and Padjusted=9.3e-06) when comorbidity was included. Gene sets of MD-comorbid, ANX-comorbid, and MD-only, but not of ANX-only, were enriched for immune regulation pathways such as interleukin production. CONCLUSIONS: ANX and MD show more distinct genetics when comorbid cases are excluded, and ANX may be causal for MD. Disorder-specific genetic studies help uncover more relevant biological mechanisms and guide tailored clinical interventions.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Comorbidity burden and its impact on psychosocial morbidity in depressed outpatients.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have examined the co-occurrence of depression and one or two nondepressive disorders; however, little research has looked at broad spectrum comorbidity (i.e., comorbidity across several diagnostic categories) in depressed patients. Research on diagnostic practices in routine clinical settings--in which unstructured interviewing is the norm--suggests that comorbid conditions are often not detected [Zimmerman, M., Mattia, J. 1999. Psychiatric diagnosis in clinical practice: Is comorbidity being missed? Compr. Psychiatry, 40, 182-191]. In this study we examined the independent impact of different comorbid diagnostic categories on psychosocial morbidity in psychiatric outpatients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). METHODS: Participants were drawn from a pool of 1000 psychiatric outpatients interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV diagnoses (SCID-IV; [First, M.B., Spitzer, R.L., Williams, J.B.W., Gibbon, M., 1995. Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID). American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.]). We compared the demographics, clinical characteristics, and psychosocial functioning of depressed outpatients with and without different axis I comorbidities, then conducted multivariate analyses to determine the respective impact of comorbid axis I disorders. RESULTS: Three hundred and seventy-three patients had a principal diagnosis of unipolar MDD. One hundred twenty-nine (34.6%) were diagnosed with MDD only, and 244 (65.4%) had MDD and at least one other axis I disorder. Comorbidity was associated with longer duration of index episode, more psychiatric morbidity, and more social and occupational impairment. There was also a significant relationship between increasing number of comorbid axis I disorders and greater psychiatric and psychosocial impairment. In regression analyses, comorbidity burden (i.e., the number of comorbid axis I disorders) showed the strongest relation to psychiatric and psychosocial impairment. LIMITATIONS: This is not a random sample of depressed outpatients and, thus, may not be generalizable to all outpatients with depression. Second, Axes II and III comorbidity were not assessed. CONCLUSIONS: Comorbidity burden showed the strongest relation to impairment over and above the presence of any particular class of disorders.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Axis I and II comorbidity in a large sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: No study has reported yet on the prevalence of both comorbid DSM-IV axis I and personality disorders in a large cohort of OCD patients, and little is known about differences in clinical characteristics between OCD patients with and without comorbid symptoms. OBJECTIVE: To examine the cross-sectional prevalence of comorbid DSM-IV axis I, and personality disorders in a population of patients with primary obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). METHOD: 420 outpatients with OCD were evaluated for comorbid pathology, demographic, and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: Forty-six percent of the patients were diagnosed with a comorbid disorder. Twenty-seven percent met the criteria for at least one comorbid axis I disorder, 15.6 percent for a comorbid personality disorder, and 20.4 percent for both a comorbid axis I disorder and a personality disorder. LIMITATIONS: A limitation of the current study is that the sample was drawn from a psychiatric department specialised in anxiety disorders, which might have underestimated the rate of comorbid diagnoses. CONCLUSION: Comorbid diagnoses occur less frequently than would be expected on the basis of comparable comorbidity studies in OCD. Associated axis I comorbidity did not affect clinical severity of OCD, but was related to higher levels of depression and anxiety, whereas axis II comorbidity impaired to a higher extent the overall functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

[Does Charlson-comorbidity index correlate with short-term outcome in patients with gastric cancer?].

OBJECTIVES: Because of the high prevalence of coexisting medical conditions in patients with gastrointestinal cancer, clinical investigators often need to adjust for comorbidity when assessing the effect of comorbidity on patient outcome. Comorbidity in cancer has been shown to be a major determinant in treatment selection and survival. However, none of the comorbidity studies in patients with gastric cancer reported in the literature have been performed using the Charlson comorbidity index. The purpose of this study was to examine the applicability of the CCI and usefulness of the CCI as a predictor in patients with gastric cancer and to examine whether it correlates with short- term outcome in these patients. METHOD: Study design was a prospective study. The study population was drawn from our department and included 139 patients who underwent curative treatment of gastric cancer between 1.1.1997 and 31.12.2001. All patients were staged by the CCI for comorbidity and divided into three groups based on the comorbidity severity staging. Group 1 included patients with no comorbidity, group 2 included those with low-level comorbidity and group 3 those with severe comorbidity. Outcomes were compared based on these divisions performing uni- and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: 35 patients (25.2 %) had no, 55 (39.6 %) low and 39 (35.2 %) severe comorbidity. 28.8 % of patients showed no or mild, 14.4 % moderate and 14.4 % of patients severe postoperative complications and 5.8 % died in hospital postoperatively. 30-day-mortality was 3.6 % (n = 5). There was no statistical significant correlation between CCI and occurrence of postoperative complications, severity of postoperative course and postoperative stay in hospital. In multivariate analysis only age was an independent factor for postoperative course. CONCLUSION: The method of classifying comorbidity by CCI provides a simple, readily applicable and valid method of estimating risk of death from comorbid disease for use in longitudinal studies and in outcomes research from administrative databases. In gastric cancer, however, the CCI was found not to be a valid prognostic indicator.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comorbidity: implications for the importance of primary care in 'case' management.

BACKGROUND: Although comorbidity is very common in the population, little is known about the types of health service that are used by people with comorbid conditions. METHODS: Data from claims on the nonelderly were classified by diagnosis and extent of comorbidity, using a case-mix measure known as the Johns Hopkins Adjusted Clinical Groups, to study variation in extent of comorbidity and resource utilization. Visits of patients (adults and children) with 11 conditions were classified as to whether they were to primary care physicians or to other specialists, and whether they involved the chosen condition or other conditions. RESULTS: Comorbidity varied within each diagnosis; resource use depended on the degree of comorbidity rather than the diagnosis. When stratified by degree of comorbidity, the number of visits for comorbid conditions exceeded the number of visits for the index condition in almost all comorbidity groups and for visits to both primary care physicians and to specialists. The number of visits to primary care physicians for both the index condition and for comorbid conditions almost invariably exceeded the number of visits to specialists. These patterns differed only for uncommon conditions in which specialists played a greater role in the care of the condition, but not for comorbid conditions. CONCLUSIONS: In view of the high degree of comorbidity, even in a nonelderly population, single-disease management does not appear promising as a strategy to care for patients. In contrast, the burden is on primary care physicians to provide the majority of care, not only for the target condition but for other conditions. Thus, management in the context of ongoing primary care and oriented more toward patients' overall health care needs appears to be a more promising strategy than care oriented to individual diseases. New paradigms of care that acknowledge actual patterns of comorbidities as well as the need for close coordination between generalists and specialists require support.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Charlson comorbidity index as a predictor of long-term outcome after surgery for nonsmall cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Charlson comorbidity index on long-term survival in nonsmall cell lung cancer surgery and determine whether this index is a better predictor of long-term survival than individual comorbid conditions. METHODS: From January 1989 to December 2001, 433 (340 men, 93 women) consecutive curative resections for nonsmall cell lung cancer were performed. Each patient was preoperatively assessed according to the Charlson comorbidity index. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Risk factors for overall and disease free survival were determined by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis. RESULTS: The patients ranged in age from 37 to 82 years, with a mean age of 65 years. Hospital mortality was 3.7%. Five-year overall and disease free survival was 45 and 43%, respectively. Among patients with Charlson comorbidity grade 0, 5-year overall survival was 52%, among patients with Charlson comorbidity grade 1-2 it was 48%, and among patients with Charlson comorbidity grade > or =3 it was 28%. Univariate analysis showed that male gender, age, congestive heart failure, chronic pulmonary disease, Charlson comorbidity index, clinical stage, pathological stage, and type of resection were significantly associated with an impaired survival. Multivariate analysis showed that age (relative risk, 1.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.03), Charlson comorbidity grade 1-2 (relative risk, 1.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.0-1.8), Charlson comorbidity grade > or =3 (relative risk, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-3.1), bilobectomy (relative risk, 1.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-2.5), pneumonectomy (relative risk, 1.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.0), pathological stage IB (relative risk, 1.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.2), IIB (relative risk, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-3.0), IIIA (relative risk, 1.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-3.1), IIIB (relative risk, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-6.8), and IV (relative risk, 12.4; 95% confidence interval, 3.2-48.2), were associated with an impaired survival. CONCLUSIONS: The Charlson comorbidity index is a better predictor of survival than individual comorbid conditions in nonsmall cell lung cancer surgery. We recommend the use of a validated comorbidity index in the selection of patients for NSCLC surgery.

Adult↗