St. Fleming et Rl. Blake, PATTERNS OF COMORBIDITY IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS, Journal of clinical epidemiology, 47(10), 1994, pp. 1127-1132
Citations number
13
Categorie Soggetti
Public, Environmental & Occupation Heath","Medicine, General & Internal
This study explored the prevalence of comorbid conditions in hospitali
zed patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who were 65 years of age or
older. Using 1989 data from the Quality of Care Medicare Provider Anal
ysis and Review (MEDPAR) file, hospitalized MS patients were compared
with respect to discharge diagnoses to an age- and sex-matched group o
f hospitalized patients without MS. As expected, the following dischar
ge diagnoses were more common (P < 0.05) for MS patients: urinary trac
t infection, pneumonia, septicemia and cellulitus. In contrast, MS pat
ients were less likely (P < 0.05) to have discharge diagnoses of acute
myocardial infarction, heart failure, hypertension, angina pectoris,
cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pul
monary disease. Possible explanations include under-reporting of certa
in comorbid conditions on discharge records of MS patients, a protecti
ve effect of MS or its treatment, reduced prevalence of risk factors,
disproportionate mortality in younger MS patients with comorbidity and
the benefits of medical surveillance.