RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Age and gender differenc b

of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground The coexistence of two or more chronic health problems in the same person at one point in time, known as mul-timorbidity, is an important challenge facing health care systems in developed countries [1,2]. However, the dom-inant paradigm in medical research, training and care provision remains focused on a single disease approach, resulting in problems of coordination between primary and specialist care, and between routine and emergency care, for patients with multimorbidity [3]. Insufficient coordination of care derives in ineffective, inadequate and unsafe health care and generates dissatisfaction among patients and physicians [4]. Although multimor-bidity is highly prevalent in all stages of life, it has major consequences for the older population [5]. In geriatric patients multimorbidity is linked to polypharmacy, frailty, health service misuse and lack of coordination [6], with consequences of increased mortality, frequenc