Improved medical care has led to an increase in both the age and clinical complexity of patients admitted to Internal Medicine wards, characterized by multiple chronic diseases. Multimorbidity is a common issue in the elderly, significantly associated with higher mortality, functional decline, and poorer quality of life. The concept of "disease clustering" goes beyond simple multimorbidity or comorbidity by grouping statistically associated morbid conditions to understand their interconnections, shared risk factors, and pathophysiological mechanisms. The goal is to identify these clusters in relation to the most common chronic conditions in Internal Medicine: heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic kidney disease.This is an observational, multicenter, prospective, national study sponsored by the FADOI Foundation (Federation of Associations of Internal Medicine Hospital) and this is a non-profit research project. It aims to involve about 50 Internal Medicine Units, targeting the enrollment of approximately 100 consecutive adult patients per unit, for a total of at least 1500 subjects per pathology group.
Age range
18 Years
Sex
ALL
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Identifying disease clusters (defined as the co-presence of at least two additional diseases) in patients suffering from at least one of the following chronic diseases: heart failure, COPD, and chronic kidney disease
Timeframe: 14 Months