Psychosocial patient characteristics and GP-registered chronic morbidity -A prospective study

Objective: The aim of this study was to get a profile of patients who are v ulnerable to get multiple chronic, recurrent or high-impact diseases in a l imited time period. We studied the incidence rates of morbidity and multimo rbidily, and the influence of psychosocial characteristics on their occurre nces. Method: Cohort study with 3551 subjects. Baseline measurement of psyc hosocial characteristics and a 2-year follow-up period for morbidity. The r elations were evaluated using multiple logistic regression analysis. Result s: After adjustment for basic socio-demographic variables, a high internal locus of control belief was found to be protective [odds ratio (OR) = 0.82] for the occurrence of morbidity, negative life events increased the risk ( OR=1.22). Characteristics specifically protective for the occurrence of mul timorbidity as compared to monomorbidity were: a high internal locus of con trol belief (OR = 0.73), living as a couple or in a family as compared to l iving alone (OR = 0.68) and a large social network (OR = 0.41). Conclusion: It appears that certain patient characteristics are specifically related t o the occurrence of multimorbidity. This provides opportunities for the fut ure development of preventive interventions. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science inc. All rights reserved.