Multimorbidity News and Research

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Severe asthma patients often face multiple overlooked health conditions

Most people living with severe asthma are also battling other health conditions that go under the radar, a major new study has found.

20 May 2026

Six genes found to connect pancreatic cancer with metabolic dysfunction

New research shows that the same genes are active in pancreatic cancer, obesity and diabetes, helping to explain why people with metabolic disease often face poorer cancer outcomes and pointing to future ways to predict recurrence and develop more targeted treatments.

6 May 2026

Simple chair-rise test signals future health risks in seniors

How easily older adults can stand up from a chair may be a telling indicator of their overall quality of life.

21 Apr 2026

Study finds higher heart disease risk in long COVID patients

People with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in eClinicalMedicine.

1 Apr 2026

New clinical guideline adopts holistic approach to brain and heart health

A new brain–heart clinical practice guideline takes a holistic approach, integrating neurologic and mental health evidence with guidance for cardiovascular disease as many brain and heart conditions overlap and share similar risk factors.

30 Mar 2026

Hospital delirium associated with increased likelihood of future dementia

Older adults who develop delirium during a hospital admission face a substantially higher risk of dementia in later years, even if they had no prior health conditions, according to a major new population study.

27 Mar 2026

New data platform transforms prediction and understanding of Alzheimer’s disease

A powerful new real-world data platform could transform how scientists predict and understand Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease related dementias (AD/ADRD), reports a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and collaborators at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, the School of Nursing as well as the University of Miami and University of Chicago.

18 Mar 2026

Building an affordable toolkit for healthy aging

As people age, they experience a gradual decline in intrinsic capacity (IC), the combined physical and mental abilities that support independence and health. The World Health Organization recognizes IC as a central indicator of resilience in aging, yet no affordable, validated tool exists to measure it.

27 Feb 2026

Having “hasslers” in your network linked to faster aging and poorer health

Researchers analyzed a state-representative US sample to examine whether negative social ties, termed “hasslers,” are associated with epigenetic age acceleration and faster biological aging. Each additional hassler was linked to roughly nine months higher biological age and a 1.5% faster pace of aging, with particularly strong associations for mental health outcomes.

25 Feb 2026

Obesity drives shared genetic risk behind many chronic disease combinations

The study uncovers obesity's genetic links to chronic diseases, offering insights into multimorbidity and the potential for targeted health interventions.

9 Feb 2026

Research shows the effect of losing weight in preventing multiple diseases

Researchers have quantified the role of obesity in common long-term conditions, showing for the first time the effect of losing weight in preventing multiple diseases.

4 Feb 2026

Adding lean pork to a plant-forward diet supports healthy aging biomarkers

A randomized crossover feeding trial in adults aged 65 years or older found that plant-forward diets incorporating either minimally processed lean pork or lentils produced similar short-term improvements in cardiometabolic and neuroactive biomarkers. Both diets supported metabolic health and functional stability, with no overall adverse biomarker effects attributable to including minimally processed red meat within a Dietary Guidelines–aligned pattern.

19 Jan 2026

Blood biomarkers predict risk of multimorbidity in older adults

A small set of common blood biomarkers predicts which older adults will develop specific combinations of chronic diseases - and how quickly, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Nature Medicine reports.

7 Jan 2026

Common blood signals explain why chronic diseases cluster as we age

This population-based study shows that shared and pattern-specific blood biomarkers reflect biological vulnerability underlying multimorbidity and the pace at which chronic diseases accumulate in older adults. Metabolic and systemic stress markers such as GDF15, HbA1c, cystatin C, and insulin consistently tracked higher disease burden and faster accumulation, with findings replicated across cohorts.

5 Jan 2026

Risk assessment models could improve support for patients leaving hospital against medical advice

Risk prediction tools might help identify patients at the highest risk of overdose and death after a "before medically advised" (BMA) hospital discharge according to new research in CMAJ.

11 Nov 2025

What’s driving England’s rise in chronic illness? Ageing, not lifestyle, researchers find

A new Nature Communications study using the IMPACTNCD microsimulation model projects that England’s major illness burden will rise sharply by 2043, even with substantial lifestyle improvements. Population ageing, not modifiable risk factors, remains the dominant driver of future multimorbidity.

5 Nov 2025

Are ultra-processed plant foods really worse than meat? Scientists weigh in

A new review challenges assumptions about ultra-processed foods, finding that plant-based versions, such as soymilk, meat analogs, and soft margarines, may lower cholesterol and disease risk compared with unprocessed animal foods when used as replacements.

26 Oct 2025

Could belonging be a biological shield? Researchers uncover aging clues

Researchers analyzing over 2,100 adults from the MIDUS cohort found that individuals with higher cumulative social advantage, spanning community ties, family relationships, and religious support, showed slower biological aging and lower systemic inflammation. The findings suggest that long-term social resources may become biologically embedded, influencing molecular pathways linked to longevity.

12 Oct 2025

AI model maps lifetime disease risks to transform future healthcare planning

Researchers developed Delphi-2M, a transformer-based AI trained on UK Biobank and Danish health data to predict and simulate lifetime trajectories for 1,256 diseases. It accurately forecasted long-term multimorbidity risks, generated synthetic health records, and highlighted comorbidity patterns while exposing key biases.

18 Sep 2025

Type 2 diabetes accelerates accumulation of chronic diseases across age groups

New research being presented at this year's Annual Meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), Vienna (15-19 Sept), reveals type 2 diabetes (T2D) as a critical factor in chronic disease accumulation, particularly during the early stages.

17 Sep 2025