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clustering

New pre-print out on the pitfalls in understanding the clustering of multiple long-term conditions

    We have a new pre-print entitled “Pitfalls in understanding how multiple long-term conditions cluster: whole population and age-stratified associations in 7,490,874 people in England”.

    Abstract

    Studies of how multiple long-term conditions (MLTC) cluster together in individuals vary in the populations studied, and whether they age and/or sex stratify, which limits comparison between studies and reproducibility. This study uses a large, UK primary-care dataset to examine how pairwise strength of association between 74 conditions varies by age in both men and women aged 30-99 years, and to explore implications for MLT cluster analyses. Joint prevalence of conditions was lowest in younger age-groups and progressively increased with age, whereas Association Beyond Chance (ABC) was highest in younger age-groups and progressively decreased with age. Condition clustering based on ABC identified different clusters in all men and all women aged 30-99 years, and these clusters differed from those identified in each age-group. Researchers examining how MLTC cluster should consider whether age and sex stratification is appropriate given their study aims and/or would improve comparability and reproducibility, and explicitly justify their choices.

    More details can be found here.

    Our new paper on chronic illnesses and depression featured in UKRI news

      Our new paper, Cluster and survival analysis of UK biobank data reveals associations between physical multimorbidity clusters and subsequent depression, has just been published in Nature Communications Medicine. The results have been highlighted by the MRC on the UKRI website and featured in its newsletter. See:

      UKRI News: https://www.ukri.org/news/multiple-chronic-illnesses-linked-to-higher-risk-of-depression
      Edinburgh University post: https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/multiple-chronic-illnesses-could-double-risk-of-depression

      and

      Full paper at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00825-7
      Code at: https://github.com/laurendelong21/clusterMed

      Our second analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on Scotland’s care-homes published in Age and Ageing

        Following from our previous analysis of care-home outbreaks of COVID-19 in Scotland in 2020, which appeared in Age and Ageing in 2021, our paper on the “Analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on Scotland’s care-homes from March 2020 to October 2021: national linked data cohort analysis” has just been published in the same journal.

        This shows that, in total 296 (27.1%) care-homes had one outbreak, 220 (20.1%) had two, 91 (8.3%) had three, and 68 (6.2%) had four or more. A general conclusion is that COVID-19 mitigation measures appear to have been beneficial, although the impact on residents remained severe until early 2021.