title: Statistical issues in assessing comorbidity.
abstract: I define three separate and distinct types of non-random comorbidity: epidemiologic, clinical and familial. These might exist singly or in any combination for a pair of disorders. The focus is on their definition and the measurement and interpretation of the types of comorbidity of most common concern: epidemiologic comorbidity. I discuss certain sources of epidemiologic comorbidity such as shared risk factors, or diagnostic 'fuzziness', and I indicate the directions of research design and analyses to disclose such sources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Kraemer
mesh_terms: D015897:Comorbidity; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D009626:Terminology as Topic