comorbidity
3 synonyms for comorbidity, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — The presence of one or more additional medical or psychiatric conditions in a patient alongside a primary condition.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
co-occurring condition
coexisting illness
concurrent disorder
How to use comorbidity
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
underlying comorbidities
psychiatric comorbidity
high rate of comorbidity
comorbidity index
Technical medical vocabulary; it became widely familiar to the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Etymology
A modern medical formation from co- 'together with' and morbidity, itself from Latin morbus 'disease'.
Full origin of comorbidity →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between comorbidity and multimorbidity?
Comorbidity describes other conditions in relation to one identified primary condition, so it implies a main diagnosis plus extras. Multimorbidity simply means a person has two or more long-term conditions, with none singled out as primary, and it is now preferred in general practice.
Does comorbidity mean the conditions cause each other?
No. It only means the conditions occur in the same person. They may share a cause, one may increase the risk of the other, or the overlap may be coincidental, and establishing which requires separate evidence.
Is comorbidity spelled with a hyphen?
Both comorbidity and co-morbidity are used. The unhyphenated form is now standard in most medical journals and style guides.
