Racial differences in healthcare expenditures for prevalent multimorbidity combinations in the USA: a cross-sectional study.

Background: We aimed to model total charges for the most prevalent multimorbidity combinations in the USA and assess model accuracy across Asian/Pacific Islander, African American, Biracial, Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American populations.

Methods: We used Cerner HealthFacts data from 2016 to 2017 to model the cost of previously identified prevalent multimorbidity combinations among 38 major diagnostic categories for cohorts stratified by age (45-64 and 65 +). Examples of prevalent multimorbidity combinations include lipedema with hypertension or hypertension with diabetes.

Multimorbidity patterns across race/ethnicity as stratified by age and obesity.

The objective of our study is to assess differences in prevalence of multimorbidity by race/ethnicity. We applied the FP-growth algorithm on middle-aged and elderly cohorts stratified by race/ethnicity, age, and obesity level. We used 2016-2017 data from the Cerner HealthFacts electronic health record data warehouse.