Treatments for single conditions are just as effective in patients with multiple chronic diseases regardless of the total number or type of comorbidities, according to a review of more than 100 clinical trials. 

UK-led researchers say their results should reassure doctors and clinical guideline authors alike when recommending pharmacotherapy for those with multiple comorbidities. 

“This [meta-analysis] supports the standard assumption that treatment effects are similar when generalising from trial to non-trial eligible populations, at least for populations with limited prevalence of comorbidity, such as in these trials,” they wrote in PLOS Medicine. 

The University of Glasgow–led team analysed 120 industry-sponsored phase III and IV randomised controlled trials involving more than 128,000 participants (mean age 37-73) to identify differences in clinical outcomes across 23 common chronic conditions.