The extra cost of comorbidity: multiple illnesses and the economic burden of non-communicable diseases

Table 6 Assessment of ‘super-additivity’ for the 45 two-by-two possible comorbidity combinations (n = 476,252)

	Alcohol use disorders	Neurological disorders	Major depression	Cirrhosis	Respiratory illness^b	Chronic kidney disease	Diabetes	Cancers^a	Heart disease
Stroke	+	–	+	+	+	+	+	–	+
Heart disease	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Cancers^a	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Diabetes	+	+	+	+	+	+
Chronic kidney disease	+	–	+	+	+
Respiratory illness^b	+	+	+	–
Cirrhosis	+	+	+
Major depression	+	+
Neurological disorders	+

Note: The precise assessment of ‘super-additivity’ was computed on the basis of the comparison: \( \overline{\widehat{\mathit{\cos}{t}_{d_{j\mid }{d}_k}}}+\overline{\widehat{\mathit{\cos}{t}_{d_{k\mid }{d}_j}}}<>\overline{\widehat{\mathit{\cos}{t}_{d_j}}}+\overline{\widehat{\mathit{\cos}{t}_{d_k}}} \) (3)
+ Left-hand side of inequality (3) is superior to the right-hand side, the assessment is ‘super-additivity’
– No super additivity (left-hand side of inequality (3) lower to the right-hand side)
^aBreast/Lung/Colorectal/Stomach/Liver/Kidney/Pancreatic/Oesophageal
^bChronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma

ISSN: 1741-7015