Soft clustering using real-world data for the identification of multimorbidity patterns in an elderly population: cross-sectional study in a Mediterranean population

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify, with soft clustering methods, multimorbidity patterns in the electronic health records of a population ≥65 years, and to analyse such patterns in accordance with the different prevalence cut-off points applied. Fuzzy cluster analysis allows individuals to be linked simultaneously to multiple clusters and is more consistent with clinical experience than other approaches frequently found in the literature.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on data from electronic health records.

Setting: 284 primary healthcare centres in Catalonia, Spain (2012).

Participants: 916 619 eligible individuals were included (women: 57.7%).

Primary and secondary outcome measures: We extracted data on demographics, International Classification of Diseases version 10 chronic diagnoses, prescribed drugs and socioeconomic status for patients aged ≥65. Following principal component analysis of categorical and continuous variables for dimensionality reduction, machine learning techniques were applied for the identification of disease clusters in a fuzzy c-means analysis. Sensitivity analyses, with different prevalence cut-off points for chronic diseases, were also conducted. Solutions were evaluated from clinical consistency and significance criteria.

Results: Multimorbidity was present in 93.1%. Eight clusters were identified with a varying number of disease values: nervous and digestive; respiratory, circulatory and nervous; circulatory and digestive; mental, nervous and digestive, female dominant; mental, digestive and blood, female oldest-old dominant; nervous, musculoskeletal and circulatory, female dominant; genitourinary, mental and musculoskeletal, male dominant; and non-specified, youngest-old dominant. Nuclear diseases were identified for each cluster independently of the prevalence cut-off point considered.

Conclusions: Multimorbidity patterns were obtained using fuzzy c-means cluster analysis. They are clinically meaningful clusters which support the development of tailored approaches to multimorbidity management and further research.