Professor Kamlesh Khunti of the University of Leicester is spearheading a global campaign to change how clinicians and researchers describe patients with multiple long-term health issues. The initiative, detailed in a new Lancet Series on cardiometabolic MLTC, argues that the term "multimorbidity" is stigmatizing. "People with multiple long-term conditions do not like the word multimorbidity. We're not morbid, they say," Khunti explained in a Perspectives piece published alongside the series.
The push reflects growing recognition that medical language shapes patient experience and care. The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research has already adopted "multiple long-term conditions" or MLTC, and Khunti and his colleagues are now working to persuade the global medical community to follow suit. The change is more than semantic—it signals a shift toward patient-centered language in chronic disease management.
The Lancet Series focuses specifically on cardiometabolic MLTC, a cluster of interrelated conditions including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke that often occur together. By consolidating research under the MLTC framework, the authors hope to spur better integrated care models and clinical guidelines for patients facing overlapping chronic illnesses.
If adopted widely, the terminology change could influence how medical literature, public health campaigns, and clinical training refer to patients with multiple conditions. Critics may argue that such linguistic shifts risk bureaucratic overhead or fail to address underlying disparities in treatment access and outcomes."
However, some experts caution that renaming a condition does not automatically improve care delivery or resource allocation. They warn that without concrete policy changes, new terminology may offer little practical benefit to the affected populations.