co-morbidity
Pronunciation: koh-mor-BID-ih-tee
The presence of one or more additional chronic conditions or diagnoses coexisting with a primary condition in the same patient, relevant to rehabilitation planning.
Full Definition
In clinical rehabilitation, co-morbidity (also rendered as 'comorbidity' without a hyphen in many contemporary style guides) refers to concurrent medical, psychiatric, or functional diagnoses that interact with or complicate the primary rehabilitation diagnosis. Common co-morbidities in rehabilitation populations include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, and chronic pain. Accurate documentation of co-morbidities is essential for complexity classification, funding justification, and outcome benchmarking. Editors must be consistent in hyphenation throughout a document: the unhyphenated 'comorbidity' is increasingly preferred in North American clinical literature, while 'co-morbidity' remains common in British and Australian publications. The plural 'comorbidities' is standard.
Usage
Usage note: Hyphenation varies by style guide: 'comorbidity' (no hyphen) is preferred in AMA style and most North American journals; 'co-morbidity' is acceptable in British and Australian publications. Apply chosen style consistently. Distinguish from 'complication', which arises from the primary condition or its treatment.
In Context
- "The patient's rehabilitation programme was modified to account for the co-morbidity of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes." — Inpatient rehabilitation admission assessment
- "Multiple co-morbidities, including hypertension and obstructive sleep apnoea, were listed in the interdisciplinary care plan." — Rehabilitation medicine consultation report