The study, which could have significant implications for the way healthcare is provided, analysed data on over four million people in the UK. It found that while the proportion being diagnosed with heart disease and stroke fell by 34% during this period, among those who were diagnosed, the proportion of people with five or more other health conditions rose from 6.3% to 24.3%, after adjusting for age.
Older patients, women and less affluent groups were affected by the highest numbers of conditions, and the most common conditions were high blood pressure (experienced by 28.9% of patients), depression (23.0%), arthritis (20.9%), asthma (17.7%) and anxiety (15.0%).