[Health issues of patients aged 65 years or over managed in general practice: which associations are remarkable?]

Introduction: We aimed at identifying the associations of health issues managed in general practice encounters with patients aged 65 years or over, according to their sex.
Methods: Ancillary study of the ECOGEN study on the consultation practice of French general practitioners. We have studied the 15 most frequent health issues managed in patients aged 65 years or over and identified the pairs most frequently and strongly associated.
Results: The sample included 5,782 encounters corresponding to 17,182 health issues managed. Each encounter involved an average of 3.0 [2.9-3.0] health issues. The strongest associations mainly included cardio-metabolic conditions. The most frequent and strong pair (OR: 3.8 [3.3-4.4]) associated non-complicated arterial hypertension with lipid disorder. Some associations were specific to patient sex.
Conclusion: The remarkable associations identified may enable to improve the management of elderly patients with multimorbidity by favouring synergic treatments.