The study, published Sept. 27 in JAMA Cardiology, compared 11,607 records from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2002 and 2015 to 2020.
“This analysis shows [cardiac, renal, and metabolic] multimorbidity is increasingly prevalent and historically undertreated among U.S. adults, supporting the development of team-based, comprehensive and equitable management strategies to enable attainment of prevention and treatment goals throughout the life span and across the [cardiac, renal, and metabolic] continuum,” investigators wrote.
Here are four findings:
- Of patients older than 65, 33.6 percent had one cardiac, renal or metabolic condition, 17.1 percent had two conditions and 5 percent had all three.
- Chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes were the most prevalent dyad at 3.2 percent, followed by cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes at 1.7 percent and cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease at 1.6 percent.
- The top key risk factors present in participants were prediabetes (25.9 percent), hypercholesterolemia (29 percent), hypertension (38.5 percent) and obesity (41.2 percent).
- The number of adults with multiple conditions increased from 5.3 percent in 1999 to 8 percent in 2020, and the number with all three conditions increased from 0.7 percent to 1.5 percent in the same time period.
