Determinants of polydoctoring among patients with multimorbidity: a Nationwide Longitudinal Fixed-Effects…

Cohort studyFamily medicine and community health· Jun 2026

Determinants of polydoctoring among patients with multimorbidity: a Nationwide Longitudinal Fixed-Effects Study in Japan.

Takayuki Ando, Bhautesh D Jani, Junji Haruta, Rei Goto

Multimorbidity & PolypharmacyCohort studyClinical practiceQ1IF 4.3

New malignancy diagnosis most strongly linked to rise in regularly visited facilities

Determinants of polydoctoring among patients with multimorbidity: a Nationwide Longitudinal Fixed-Effects Study in Japan.

Takayuki Ando … Rei Goto

Family medicine and community health · Jun 2026

Purpose

To identify which chronic conditions and patient characteristics contribute to increases in the number of regularly visited facilities (regularly visited facilities), a measure of polydoctoring, among adults with multimorbidity in Japan.

Methods

4 696 790 adults with two or more chronic conditions and two or more consecutive years of follow-up.

n = 790 adults

Results

new cancer diagnoses were most strongly tied to visiting more regular care facilities

RR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

The onset of examined chronic conditions was associated with changes in regularly visited facilities, with substantial variation in effect size across conditions.

More results

Associations between disease onset and regularly visited facilities were consistently attenuated among individuals aged ≥75 years and those with higher baseline multimorbidity while differences between urban and rural residents were minimal.

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Conclusion · 1 of 3

Substantial heterogeneity was observed in the magnitude of regularly visited facilities increases across chronic conditions, with particularly strong associations for malignancy, osteoporosis and arthritis.

Conclusion · 2 of 3

Attenuated effects among older adults and individuals with higher multimorbidity suggest that patient capacity and treatment burden may influence patterns of healthcare utilisation.

Conclusion · 3 of 3

These findings underscore condition-specific drivers of care fragmentation and may inform more tailored care-coordination strategies for people living with multimorbidity.

Determinants of polydoctoring among patients with multimorbidity: a Nationwide Longitudinal Fixed-Effects Study in Japan.

Determinants of polydoctoring among patients with multimorbidity: a Nationwide Longitudinal Fixed-Effects Study in Japan.

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