Clinical characterization and use of health care resources in multimorbid patients

Caracterización clínica y consumo de recursos de la salud en los pacientes con pluripatología

Background: in Colombia chronic non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of loss of healthy life years in the population over 45 years of age and account for 1/3 of total reported care provision, generating an average annual cost of COP12.800.000 (USD$3200) per patient. Objective: to describe the sociodemographic characteristics and healthcare resources utilization in multimorbid patients identified in two Colombian health insurers (EPSs) databases in 2018.  Materials and methods: an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study including legal aged patients considered multimorbid, domiciled in Bogotá, identified in the Medimás and Compensar databases. Sociodemographic variables, diagnostic categories, level of complexity and use of healthcare services, were evaluated. Averages and standard deviation for quantitative variables and percentage frequencies for qualitative variables were calculated for the descriptive analysis. Results: mean age was 74.8 (±12.9) years, 64.4% (n=204) were females, 42.6% (n=135) were married and (1 to 6) 55.5% (n=176) belonged to socioeconomic strata three. The most common diagnoses were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 45% (n=142), osteoarthritis in 40% (n=125) and chronic kidney disease in 35% (n=111); 46% (N=130) attended the emergency room service, 20% (N=56) were hospitalized, and all of them required pharmacologic treatment. Conclusions: the studied population featured an overall age close to the national average life expectancy, were mostly women, had low levels of education, all were classified as complex cases, and the majority belonged to 3 or more diagnostic categories.