Citation

Dai H, Mei Z, An A, Wu J. J. Affect. Disord. 2020; 263: 209-215.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.146

PMID

31818778

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The substantial burden of physical and mental comorbidity is increasingly gaining attention, but a comprehensive evaluation of this is limited in Canada. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of physical and mental comorbidity and its implications in Canada.
METHODS: We used nationally representative data from Canadian Community Health Survey, 2014. We included individuals who were aged ≥18 years and excluded those who had missing information on physical or mental disorders. Chronic diseases referred to both physical and mental disorders.
RESULTS: Respondents included in our analysis represented 27,221,856 Canadians aged ≥18 years. Of these, 53.9% (95% CI 53.1-54.6) had one or more chronic diseases, 11.5% (95% CI 11.0-12.0) had mental disorder, and 8.4% (95% CI 8.0-8.8) had physical and mental comorbidity. Compared with those without chronic diseases, people with one or more chronic diseases had higher sex- and age-adjusted prevalence of severe impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), suicidal ideation, and healthcare utilization; and the risks increased consistently with the number of chronic diseases. However, among those with the same number of chronic diseases, people with mental disorder or physical and mental comorbidity were more likely to have these adverse consequences than people with only physical disorders.
LIMITATIONS: Our study was based on self-reported data, and included only major chronic diseases rather than all probable chronic diseases.
CONCLUSIONS: Physical and mental comorbidity is prevalent in Canada and should be addressed with appropriate interventions considering its excessive adverse impact on HRQoL, suicidal ideation and healthcare utilization.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Cross-Sectional Studies; Adult; Aged; Middle Aged; Canada; Adolescent; Young Adult; Comorbidity; Prevalence; Suicidal Ideation; Quality of Life; Suicidal ideation; Mental disorder; Mental Disorders; Quality of life; Healthcare utilization; Physical disorder