INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE: COMORBIDITY AND MULTIMORBIDITY BRING SEPARATED BRANCHES OF MEDICINE CLOSER TO EACH OTHER

Abstract

Editorial - Medicina Academica Integrativa, Vol. 1., No. 2., 2024.

The simultaneous presence of multiple diseases and illnesses in the form of multi-comorbidity and comorbidity is more a rule than an exception, particularly in the elderly (see Jakovljevic & Ostojic 2012). According to some authors 60-80% of adults over 65 years suffer from two or more diseases.
Comorbidity, multi-morbidity and multisystem diseases represent huge problems and challenges to contemporary medicine in theory and practice. Medical specialization and specialist fragmentation, disease-centered approach, clinical guidelines developed for single diseases and fragmentary approach reducing complex disease problems to their biological aspects demand holistic approaches that
offer a promising framework for increasing effectiveness and efficiency in contemporary medicine. Trans-disciplinary integrative medicine addresses the challenges, problems and complications posed by multi-morbidity and comorbidity in a new way. It also offers all health scientists and practitioners a common language that may bridge epistemic gaps and facilitates the exchange of insights and paradigms across academic borders.