Article focus
The reported rates of disability are considerably higher among the older population of Northern Ireland (NI) than in the Republic of Ireland (RoI), but the reasons for this are not known.
Multimorbidity is common in older people, and disability, poor self-rated health and poor quality of life are more common among those with multiple chronic conditions.
We aimed to explore the effects of particular combinations of chronic conditions on disability, quality of life and self-rated health across Ireland and to test whether higher rates of chronic disease or multimorbidity explained the difference in disability rates across the island of Ireland