Most comprehensive analysis of health data ever conducted in Estonia shows that more than 60% of adults have at least one chronic condition
More than 60% of adults in Estonia have at least one chronic condition, and 42% are living with at least two chronic conditions. The most comprehensive population-based study conducted to date by researchers of the University of Tartu shows that people with multiple chronic conditions make significantly greater use of healthcare services and face a markedly higher risk of premature death or treatment-related complications than those without chronic conditions. The study is based on the new EST-Health-30 research dataset, which includes health data from nearly one third of Estonia’s population.
The study found that chronic conditions do not affect only older people. Almost half of those living with at least two chronic conditions simultaneously, a situation known as multimorbidity, are of working age.
“Having multiple chronic conditions is often associated with very old age, but our findings show that almost half of multimorbid patients are under the age of 65. This means that chronic conditions affect a large number of people during their working years, and their prevention and early management are essential both for supporting people’s health and for the effective functioning of the healthcare system as a whole,” said Angela Kannukene, a doctoral researcher at the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of Tartu Institute of Clinical Medicine.
The researchers found that the more chronic conditions a person has, the more healthcare services they need. Each additional chronic condition is associated with more outpatient appointments, emergency department visits, hospital admissions and prescription medicines.
However, the impact of multimorbidity is most evident in health outcomes. Compared with people of the same age and sex who have no chronic conditions or only one, individuals with ten or more chronic conditions are more than three times as likely to die within the following five years. They are also two to three times more likely to experience complications related to treatment or medical procedures.
The study also found that the overall prevalence of chronic conditions has remained relatively stable in recent years, although diagnoses of obesity have become more common. According to researchers, this finding should be interpreted with caution, as the increase may reflect not only the actual prevalence of obesity but also the fact that, owing to new treatment options, it is now diagnosed and documented more frequently than in the past.
This comprehensive overview was made possible by the new EST-Health-30 research dataset, which combines electronic health records, prescription data, treatment bills submitted to the Health Insurance Fund, and data from the Cancer Registry and the Causes of Death Register.
According to Sulev Reisberg, Research Fellow of Health Informatics at the University of Tartu Institute of Computer Science, the dataset enabled a deeper study of the prevalence of chronic conditions than before. “EST-Health-30 has given us the first opportunity to monitor the prevalence of chronic conditions across the entire population in such detail and to investigate how diseases develop over time and what impact they have on individuals and the healthcare system. This research infrastructure provides a foundation for many new studies and helps support more evidence-based decision-making in healthcare,” said Reisberg.
The dataset covers a randomly selected 30% of Estonia’s population, amounting to nearly 510,000 people. All data have been converted to the international OMOP standard format, enabling Estonian researchers to use the same research methods as leading health research centres worldwide and to participate in international collaborative projects. The dataset is updated annually, making it possible to monitor long-term changes in the health of Estonia’s population and in the use of healthcare services.
EST-Health-30 forms part of the activities of the TeamPerMed Centre for Data-Enriched Personalised Medicine, whose aim is to advance the implementation of personalised medicine in Estonia by bringing together clinical practice, genomics, IT, and the social and economic sciences.
Read more:
Journal of Multimorbidity and Comorbidity
Data/statistical analysis
People
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