Comorbidity - in Medicine

In Medicine

In medicine, comorbidity describes the effect of all other diseases an individual patient might have other than the primary disease of interest.

Many tests attempt to standardize the "weight" or value of comorbid conditions, whether they are secondary or tertiary illnesses. Each test attempts to consolidate each individual comorbid condition into a single, predictive variable that measures mortality or other outcomes. Researchers have validated such tests because of their predictive value, but no one test is as yet recognized as a standard.

The term "comorbid" has two definitions:

1. to indicate a medical condition existing simultaneously but independently with another condition in a patient (this is the older and more "correct" definition)
2. to indicate a medical condition in a patient that causes, is caused by, or is otherwise related to another condition in the same patient (this is a newer, nonstandard definition and less well-accepted).