Facing multimorbidity in the precision medicine era

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Clinical Medicine
• Genomics

Background:

• Multimorbidity presents a complex clinical picture with heterogeneous patient profiles.
• Precision medicine, focused on individual characteristics, is poorly implemented in multimorbidity care.
• Current precision medicine approaches often overlook the multifactorial nature of multimorbidity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore challenges in applying precision medicine to multimorbidity.
• To propose a strategy for simplifying precision medicine's application in multimorbidity.
• To identify homogeneous chronic disease patterns for targeted interventions.

Main Methods:

• Review of current precision medicine applications and limitations in chronic disease management.
• Analysis of factors contributing to the complexity of multimorbidity.
• Conceptual framework development for identifying multimorbidity phenotypes.

Main Results:

• Precision medicine's success in mono-factorial diseases contrasts with multimorbidity's multifactorial nature.
• Lack of understanding regarding multimorbidity's risk factors and evolution hinders personalized approaches.
• Existing precision medicine often prioritizes genetics, neglecting other individual profile determinants.
• Diverse individual pathways lead to varied multimorbidity phenotypes, complicating treatment.

Conclusions:

• Simplifying precision medicine for multimorbidity requires reducing complexity by identifying homogeneous disease patterns.
• These patterns can serve as targets for preventive and therapeutic strategies.
• This approach enhances understanding of individual-level factor interactions and enables targeted multimorbidity interventions.