View clinical trials related to Multimorbidity.
Filter by:The progressive rising of multimorbidity, which has been always considered the hallmark of clinical complexity (CC), has made management of the "complex" patient one of the most topical and challenging issues in medicine. However, patient-related factors (multimorbidity, age, frailty, disease severity) pertain only to the biological complexity, while CC is the result of the dynamic interaction between biological complexity and a number of other coexisting factors (socio-economic, cultural, behavioural, environmental). Starting from these premises, the investigators designed a five-year observational prospective longitudinal study that aims to validate and compare a CC score system on a large cohort of patients (n=1000) admitted in internal medicine wards. Clinicians, biostatisticians and epidemiologists will cooperate into the project. A questionnaire that encompasses the main biological and extra-biological factors was designed (Clinical Complexity Index, CCI) by a multiprofessional consensus. This questionnaire will be administered by the investigators to the patients and validated. Consecutive patients will be enrolled every other week for two years and followed-up for 5 years. The primary endpoint will be the validation of the CCI. Thereafter, the investigators will evaluate the correlation between the CCI and the length of stay of the index hospitalization, assuming that a higher CCI score is associated with longer length of stay. The secondary endpoints will be the demonstration of the association between higher CCI score and more health resources utilization (i.e., evaluating occurrence of hospital readmissions, number of accesses to the emergency room, visits at the outpatient clinic, different drugs prescribed and hospital reimbursement according to the local diagnosis-related group [DRG] system) along with worse prognosis (mortality at 1 and 5 years).
Older patients account for around 10% of the population, of which 57% have a long-term illness, and 33% were admitted in the past year. Geriatric assessment (GA) is a multidimensional assessment of general health status that can help identifying deficiencies and followed by a personalized care plan. Assessment and management of elderly patients is a daily concern for the general practitioner (GP) but conflicting results have been reported so far relating to the clinical impact of GA when applied in the primary care setting. This study protocol aims to assess the effect on morbi-mortality of a complex intervention in patients aged ≥70 years with chronic conditions in primary care. It aims to demonstrate that a GA adapted to primary care, followed by a personalized care plan and combined with successful interprofessional collaboration can improve clinically relevant outcomes in elderly patients with chronic conditions such as one-year overall mortality, unplanned hospital admission, emergency visits, or institutionalization. The CEPIA study will also help addressing the issue of whether an improved benefit could be achieved from a systematic nurse-led or a case-by-case GP-led GA.