Table 1.
Morbidity and multimorbidity measures.
| Measure | Number diseases/categories | Range of measure | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| QOF disease dummy variables | 17 Not mutually exclusive |
0–1 dummies | 17 chronic diseases in the clinical domain of the UK Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) pay for performance scheme: asthma, atrial fibrillation, cancer, coronary heart disease (CHD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), dementia, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, heart failure, hypertension, learning difficulties, mental health, obesity, stroke, and hyperthyroidism. |
| QOF disease count | 17 | 0–17 | Count of the QOF diseases. |
| Charlson disease dummy variables | 17 Not mutually exclusive |
0–1 dummies | 17 diseases predictive of mortality: cerebrovascular disease (1), chronic pulmonary disease (1), congestive heart disease (1), dementia (1), diabetes (1), mild liver disease (1), myocardial infarction (1), peptic ulcer disease (1), peripheral vascular disease (1), rheumatological disease (1), cancer (2), diabetes with complications (2), hemiplegia and paraplegia (2), renal disease (2), moderate or severe liver disease (3), AIDS (6), and metastatic tumour (6). Not mutually exclusive. (Numbers in parentheses are weights in Charlson Index score – see below.) |
| Charlson Index score | 17 | 0–33 | Weighted count of Charlson diseases. Weights reflect strength of relationship with patient mortality. |
| Expanded Diagnosis Clusters (EDCs) dummy variables | 114 Not mutually exclusive |
0–1 dummies | Chronic clinically related groupings of diagnoses. |
| Count of EDCs | 114 | 0–114 | Count of EDCs. |
| Adjusted Clinical Groups (ACGs) | 68 mutually exclusive categories | 0–1 dummies | Classification into an ACG based on age, gender, combination of morbidities, and expected cost. The age range of our sample meant we used only 68 out of 82 possible ACG categories. |
| Resource Utilization Bands (RUBs) | 6 mutually exclusive categories | 0–1 dummies | ACGs grouped into 6 mutually exclusive Resource Utilization Bands on the basis of expected costs; 0: No or only invalid diagnoses; 1: Healthy Users; 2: Low; 3: Moderate; 4: High; 5: Very High. |