Table 1 Summary characteristics of studies (N = 59)
From: Costs of multimorbidity: a systematic review and meta-analyses
Study characteristic | Articles n (%) |
|---|---|
Type of study (N = 59) | |
Cross-sectional | 32 (54%) |
Cohort/longitudinal | 26 (44%) |
Case-control | 1 (2%) |
World Bank classification (n = 59) | |
High-income country | 56 (95%) |
Middle-income country | 3 (5%) |
Low-income country | 0 (0) |
Source of data (n = 59)* | |
Insurance claim database | 37 (63%) |
Hospital/medical database | 19 (32%) |
Patient survey | 20 (34%) |
Linked database | 20 (34%) |
Other | 6 (10%) |
Type of costs included (n = 59)* | |
Direct medical costs | 58 (98%) |
Direct non-medical costs | 2 (3%) |
Indirect costs | 7 (12%) |
Costing perspective (n = 59)* | |
Public | 48 (81%) |
Household/patient | 12 (20%) |
Societal | 8 (14%) |
Provider | 1 (2%) |
Number of disease combination sets from all studies* (n = 325) | |
Included in narrative synthesis (research questions 1 and 4) | 229 (70%) |
Included in country comparison (research question 2) | 41 (13%) |
Included in meta-analyses (research question 3) | 34 (10%) |
Number of conditions in each disease combination set (n = 325) | |
Two | 282 (87%) |
More than two | 43 (13%) |
Frequently appeared in disease combination sets* (n = 325) | |
Diabetes | 96 (30%) |
Heart/vascular conditions | 93 (29%) |
Mental health conditions | 67 (21%) |
Hypertension | 59 (18%) |
Respiratory conditions | 52 (16%) |
Cancers | 38 (12%) |
Quality score | Mean |
Cross-sectional studies (n = 32) | 7.8 out of 10 |
Cohort studies (n = 26) | 7.9 out of 9 |
Case-control studies (n = 1) | 7.0 out of 9 |