Multiple Health Problems Multiply Death Risk

As many as 10 million men and women in the US and Europe have some combination of diabetes, heart disease and stroke history.  Emanuele Di Angelantonio, from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), and colleagues explored the effect of this “multiple risk profile” on death rates.   Data analysis revealed that having two cardiometabolic risk conditions at age 60 was linked to a 12-year drop in life expectancy, and having all three conditions was linked to a 15-year drop.  The risk is even higher among patients whose diseases first strike before the age of 40.  The researchers determined that the years of life lost associated with having 2 or 3 of the target diseases ended up being even greater than the years lost in life expectancy among lifelong smokers and HIV patients. The study authors warn that: “Because any combination of these conditions was associated with multiplicative mortality risk, life expectancy was substantially lower in people with multimorbidity.”