One in five people in a south London borough is living with several long-term health conditions, scientists have warned.

Over 20 per cent of population suffers from multimorbidity, meaning they have two or more chronic illnesses, a new study has found.

Some segments of the population are more affected than others and what combination of conditions they experience is heavily influenced by factors like age, gender and ethnicity.

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Younger people are more likely to struggle with depression and anxiety, while heart conditions and dementia are more common among older generations.

These differences could explain why COVID-19 has hit some people harder than others.

Treatments which tackle multiple diseases at once need to be developed, the researchers say.

Lead author Alessandra Bisquera, a postgraduate research fellow at Kings College London said: “Multimorbidity is not restricted to older citizens.

“More young people around the world are being diagnosed with multiple conditions, and being less advantaged socioeconomically accelerates the process, so in deprived urban areas, multimorbidity occurs earlier in life.”

Electronic health records for people aged 18 and over, who lived in a south London borough between April 2005 and and May 2020, were analysed by the researchers.

The inner-city London borough, which was anonymised, had a diverse population, which included deprived, multi-ethnic and young groups.

An estimated 21 per cent of the population suffered from two or more chronic health conditions, the researchers found.

In particular, women and ethnic minority groups were more likely to experience multimorbidity.

Age was a big factor, with people aged 80 or above having on average four long-term conditions.

Condition clusters were then identified for different segments of the population.

For example, anxiety and depression was highest among young adults aged 18 to 39, the researchers found.

Older people who were taking medication on a daily basis tended to suffer from heart conditions and dementia.

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMS) and chronic pain, were again more common among older people, but also ethnic minorities.

Young males who smoked on the other hand, were more likely to display at-risk behaviours like alcohol and substance abuse.

Healthcare providers should tailor care to multiple conditions rather than just the one, the researchers say.

Ms Bisquera said: “Many conditions are still treated in isolation, so there are patients out there who may be taking multiple drugs and seeing several specialists at any one time, further adding to their disadvantage.

“Medical training and service organisation in the UK needs to shift away from treating single diseases to potentially managing clusters of diseases.”

The need for multi-condition treatments has become clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people with underlying health conditions are more likely to experience severe symptoms.

Ms Bisquera said: “The same health inequalities that are pronounced in those with multimorbidity are also the ones that puts people at greater risk of hospitalisation or death from COVID-19, which includes Black ethnic groups and those living in deprived areas.

“We hope that by identifying these common disease clusters, we are able to be more systematic in our approach to multimorbidity and delay its progression"

The findings were published in the journal Lancet Regional Health.