Definition of comorbidities? What does that mean?

DivaliciousMe85 · Oct 19, 2014

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comorbidity

SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2014

Comorbidity refers to the existance of more than one disorder (or disease process) in the same patient.

For instance, the patient was admitted for asthma exacerbation, and in addition to asthma, the patient has COPD. COPD would be the comorbidity. Or a patient who is admitted for treatment of DMII is also obese. Obesity would be the comorbidity.

Typically, comorbidities are related to each other, such as in the examples above.

hkqueenx3 · Oct 19, 2014

Comorbidity refers to the existance of more than one disorders (or disease processes) in the same patient.
For instance, the patient was admitted for asthma exacerbation, and in addition to asthma, the patient has COPD. COPD would be the comorbidity. Or a patient who is admitted for treatment of DMII is also obese. Obesity would be the comorbidity.
Typically, comorbidities are related to each other, such as in the examples above.

Oh, thank you so much! And the examples really puts it into perspective.

SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN · Oct 19, 2014

No problem!

RunBabyRN · Oct 22, 2014

Also, comorbidities may or may not be related, but might also impact one another. For example, someone may come in with a tib/fib fracture, and they have a comorbidity of of T2DM, hyperlipidemia and COPD. COPD (right sided) can cause a lot of edema in the legs, and T2DM can really affect healing. Hyperlipidemia won't make a big difference, but it might have some impact on blood flow. The fracture is unlikely to be related to these diagnoses, but it may or may not be impacted by them.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Oct 22, 2014

I'll refer to a metabolic disorder that affects millions of people in the US: obesity.

Common comorbidities in patients diagnosed with obesity include osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, insulin resistance, type II diabetes, heart disease, and infertility.