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Multimorbidity in Primary Care

Guest Editors:
Lloyd D Hughes: NHS Tayside, United Kingdom
Filipe Prazeres: University of Beira Interior, Portugal
Ingmar Schäfer: University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
Jean Karl Soler: European General Practice Research Network, Malta


BMC Primary Care has published this Collection on Multimorbidity in Primary Care. The provision of primary care services for patients with multimorbidity presents many challenges, with fragmented care, polypharmacy, and iatrogenic harm being some of them. Primary care for multimorbid patients is limited and complex, and often requires an interprofessional team approach. Despite the well documented challenges associated with multimorbidity in primary care, recent systematic reviews show the lack of efficient interventions.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Lloyd D Hughes, NHS Tayside, United Kingdom

Lloyd graduated from the University of Dundee and completed his academic foundation training in Tayside before moving to complete a geriatric medicine fellowship in Edinburgh. He completed his GP training in Fife in 2020. The geriatric fellowship proved to be rewarding as Lloyd developed his research into the area of multimorbidity and during his time in Dundee looked at targeted treatment for multimorbidity within the geriatric setting. He has published several peer-reviewed publications in the area of multimorbidity, and currently, Lloyd is working toward completing his PhD looking at health management and service delivery for individuals with multimorbidity as a NES Academic Fellow at the University of St Andrews.


Filipe Prazeres, University of Beira Interior, Portugal

Filipe Prazeres is a Family Physician and an Invited Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences – University of Beira Interior – Portugal. He is also an integrated doctoral researcher in the Health for All research group, in the Research Line (LT1) - Preventive Medicine & Societal Challenges - Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS). He has a PhD in Medicine and his research interest is focused on patients who present multiple chronic medical conditions (multimorbidity) in primary care settings.


Ingmar Schäfer, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany

Born 1974 in Goslar am Harz, Germany. Studied sociology, psychology, law and philosophy in Wuppertal and Hamburg and did his PhD in 2014. Since 2006, he has worked at the Institute and Outpatients Clinic of General Practice/Primary Care at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. One focus of his research is the quality of primary care for older patients with multimorbidity. Further research interests are low subjective treatment urgency in emergency care, as well as socially disadvantaged groups, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and digitalisation in the context of primary care.


Jean Karl Soler, European General Practice Research Network, Malta

Jean Karl Soler is a Family Doctor and Specialist in occupational medicine, and a keen primary care researcher interested in the epidemiology of family medicine and the process of diagnosis in primary care. He has also published about burnout and the use of electronic medical records for research.

About the collection

BMC Primary Care has published this Collection on Multimorbidity in Primary Care. 




Multimorbidity refers to the co-existence of two or more chronic conditions, which can either be:

  • A physical non-communicable disease of long duration
  • A mental health condition of long duration
  • An infectious disease of long duration

The provision of primary care services for patients with multimorbidity presents many challenges, with fragmented care, polypharmacy, and iatrogenic harm being some of them. Primary care for multimorbid patients is limited and complex, and often requires an interprofessional team approach. Despite the well documented challenges associated with multimorbidity in primary care, recent systematic reviews show the lack of efficient interventions.

This collection welcomed submissions that contribute to our understanding of multimorbidity, including:

  • Multimorbidity through the lenses of the patient, family, carers, and primary care worker
  • Complexity in the context of multimorbidity
  • Clustering of multimorbidity patterns across the life cycle
  • Physical-mental health multimorbidity
  • Quality of life measures for patients with multimorbidity
  • Social determinants of health and vulnerable populations with multimorbidity
  • Evidence-based treatment strategies and interventions for patients with multimorbidity
  • International perspectives on multimorbidity, including challenges, best practice, and opportunities for change
  • Measuring the quality of care for patients with multimorbidity (e.g. quality indicators)

  1. Multimorbidity is increasingly prevalent among ageing patients, leading to reduced daily functioning. To address the challenges posed by multimorbidity in older adults, a person- and context-centred approach i...

    Authors: Laura Rink, Caroline Floto, Katharina Apel, Maren Weiss, Elmar Stegmeier, Thomas Kühlein and Maria Sebastião
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:280
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. The management of persons with multimorbidity challenges healthcare systems tailored to individual diseases. A person-centred care approach is advocated, in particular for persons with multimorbidity. The aim ...

    Authors: Mieke JL Bogerd, Pauline Slottje, Jettie Bont and Hein PJ Van Hout
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:114
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has improved the life expectancy of people living with HIV (PLWH) and has increased the risk of chronic non-communicable diseases. Comorbid HIV and diabetes mellitu...

    Authors: Rumbidzai Chireshe, Tawanda Manyangadze and Keshena Naidoo
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:28
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Older people with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) (MLTC-M) experience difficulties accessing and interacting with health and care services. Breakdowns in communication between patients and staff...

    Authors: Rebecca Goulding, Kelly Birtwell, Mark Hann, Sarah Peters, Harm van Marwijk and Peter Bower
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2024 25:12
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Patients living with multimorbidity may require frequent visits to multiple healthcare institutions and to follow diverse medical regimens and advice. Older adults with multimorbidity could face additional cha...

    Authors: Poay Sian Sabrina Lee, Evelyn Ai Ling Chew, Hui Li Koh, Stephanie Xin En Quak, Yew Yoong Ding, Mythily Subramaniam, Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar and Eng Sing Lee
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2023 24:239
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. To understand how to improve care for patients with chronic diseases and multimorbidity we wanted to describe the prevalence of different chronic diseases and the pattern of multimorbidity and to analyse the a...

    Authors: Andy Maun, Cecilia Björkelund and Eva Arvidsson
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2023 24:237
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Primary care and other health services have been disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the consequences of these service disruptions on patients’ care experiences remain largely unstudied. People with me...

    Authors: Matthew Menear, Arnaud Duhoux, Myreille Bédard, Jean-Sébastien Paquette, Marie Baron, Mylaine Breton, Simon Courtemanche, Savannah Dubé, Stefany Dufour, Martin Fortin, Ariane Girard, Émilie Larouche-Côté, Audrey L’Espérance, Annie LeBlanc, Marie-Eve Poitras, Sophie Rivet…
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2023 24:154
    Content type: Study Protocol Published on:

  9. Older adults are more prone to increasing comorbidities and polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is associated with inappropriate prescribing and an increased risk of adverse effects. This study examined the effect of p...

    Authors: George Doumat, Darine Daher, Mira Itani, Lina Abdouni, Khalil El Asmar and Georges Assaf
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2023 24:120
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Patients with multimorbidity, having two or more chronic diseases, suffer frequently from undiagnosed common mental health problems and are an increasing challenge in primary care. There is a call to improve c...

    Authors: C. Kappelin, C. Sandlund, J. Westman and C. Wachtler
    Citation: BMC Primary Care 2023 24:104
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Multimorbidity in Primary Care" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.