Deconstructing Complex Multimorbidity in the Very Old: Findings from the Newcastle 85+ Study
Table 5
Medication and healthcare use in total sample with multimorbidity and cluster groups.
Total multimorbid sample
Cluster A
Cluster B
Cluster C
Cluster D
Cluster E
value
Previous 1 month
Prescribed medication†
Median (interquartile range) number of items
6 (4–9)
7 (5–9)
7 (4–9)
6 (4–8)
5 (3–7)
3 (1–6.5)
0.0001
Previous 3 months
Any outpatient attendance, % ()‡
34.1 (223)
37.1 (78)
35.9 (65)
33.6 (50)
24.4 (20)
31.3 (10)
0.319
Median (interquartile range) number of outpatient attendances
1 (1-2)
1 (1-2)
1 (1-2)
1 (1-2)
1 (1-2)
1 (1-2)
0.859
Any “Accident and Emergency” attendance, % ()‡
7.6 (50)
7.1 (15)
7.1 (13)
8.7 (13)
4.9 (4)
15.6 (5)
0.380
Median (interquartile range) number of “Accident and Emergency” attendances
1 (1-1)
1 (1-1)
1 (1-1)
1 (1-1)
1 (1-1)
1 (1-1)
0.609
Previous 12 months
Any overnight hospital admission, % ()‡
22.5 (148)
27.6 (58)
25.0 (46)
20.1 (30)
11.0 (9)
15.6 (5)
0.022
Median (interquartile range) total length of stay (days)
7 (3–17)
6 (2–15)
13 (5–23)
5 (2–14)
7 (3–14)
4 (3–7)
0.058
Any “Day Hospital” attendance, % ()‡
7.6 (50)
9.1 (19)
7.7 (14)
4.0 (6)
7.3 (6)
16.1 (5)
0.163
Any other intermediate care service contacts, % ()‡
7.1 (46)
4.7 (10)
8.9 (16)
10.3 (15)
3.7 (3)
6.5 (2)
0.171
Any consultations with own general practitioner, % ()†
93.3 (614)
91.5 (193)
97.3 (179)
93.3 (139)
87.8 (72)
96.9 (31)
0.034
Median (interquartile range) number of general practitioner consultations
5 (3–9)
6 (3–9)
5 (3–8)
5 (3–9)
5 (3.5–9)
4 (2–9)
0.638
Any consultations with general practice nurse, % ()†
81.0 (533)
84.8 (179)
81.5 (150)
83.9 (125)
69.5 (57)
68.8 (22)
0.011
Median (interquartile range) number of general practice nurse consultations
3 (2–5)
3 (2–6)
2.5 (1–5)
3 (1–5)
2 (1–4)
2 (1–4)
0.009
value for no difference between cluster groups. †Data source: review of general practice records. ‡Data source: nurse-administered questionnaire. Median (interquartile range) reported for those participants with at least one contact with service.
