12th GM Conference: Tackling the ticking time bomb of elderly healthcare (Part 2)

First published March 2018, updated June 2022 Rational prescribing and multimorbidity According to NICE, multimorbidity refers to the presence of two or more long-term health conditions.1 Over 50% of patients aged over 85 years have three or more long-term conditions. There is a treatment burden in multimorbidity often due to aggressive primary prevention and also guidelines aimed at single health conditions. This guidance is also usually drawn from people who take fewer medications. Further reading: 12th GM Conference: Tackling the ticking time bomb of elderly healthcare (Part 1) This multimorbidity burden leads to multiple clinic appointments where prescribers often work