Dealing with a serious medical condition can be tough. And according to existing data, 45% of all adults are dealing with several chronic conditions, including glaucoma, diabetes or heart disease. With older adults, the numbers are even worse: 80% of adults over 65 suffer from multiple chronic conditions.

Along with handling the challenges of chronic diseases, there are the additional emotional, psychological or social burdens that accompany these illnesses and can have a direct impact on quality of life. New research out of the University of Michigan highlights the cognitive decline that can result from handling multiple chronic conditions- even if the conditions have no direct connection to brain health. Essentially, what researchers have found is that people dealing with multiple illnesses at once are at special risk for serious mental health and cognitive problems. Learn more about this important research here.

What then becomes critical is for doctors and other care providers to proactively track such patients to make sure their mental health needs are being addressed alongside their physical ailments. Fortunately, the Michigan researchers have developed a new diagnostic tool to help with this detection. Titled the Multimorbidity-Weighted Index (you can see the tool and find out how the score is calculated here), this new diagnostic survey helps measure the risk of cognitive decline for patients dealing with multiple chronic illnesses. The higher the score on the test, the greater the risk of faster memory loss, higher suicide risk or even premature death. It’s a valuable assessment tool for flagging real mental and social health concerns and paints a more accurate portrait of a patient’s actual “functional age” as opposed to their biological age. Find out more about this tool, and whether you or a loved one should access this type of evaluation, by clicking here.