Prevalence of Multimorbidity and Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Romanian Occupational Medicine Private Facility.

Abstract

Background: The past decades have witnessed an increasing interest in the field of multimorbidity, as common risk factors such as obesity, arterial hypertension or diabetes have surged worldwide, thus posing a burden on public health systems all over the world. Defined as the presence of two or more conditions in the same individual, multimorbidity and its prevalence have shown large heterogeneity among countries and age groups. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and multimorbidity in a cohort of 4200 patients of a Romanian private occupational medicine facility in order to provide a better outlook on this domain, adapted to patients in the active population group.

Methods: The cohort selected by us for the present study comprised all 4200 patients who visited our facility over the course of three months. Upon clinical examination of all patients, data were collected via on-paper registration and included into each individual's medical file, afterwards being digitally registered. Finally, the prevalence of each risk factor and multimorbidity was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2019 version data analysis software.

Results: Among all members of the cohort, 815 individuals (19.4%) had arterial hypertension, 614 patients (14.61%) were registered with obesity, 110 people (2.61%) had diabetes, and finally, 754 subjects (17.95%) had multimorbidity. Analysis of multimorbidity patterns showed a higher prevalence of multimorbidity among women (56.89%) and urban residents (68.03%).

Conclusion: The present study found a lower prevalence of multimorbidity and cardiovascular risk factors than other similar data in the literature. While this can be explained by multiple factors, such as the general addressability of private occupational medicine services, we also raise awareness about the fact that further populational studies regarding this topic need to address larger and more heterogeneous cohorts in order to provide data of utmost accuracy.