Challenges in Formulating Explanatory Models for Co-morbidities

Abstract

Patients with multiple health conditions pose significant challenges for modern healthcare. Understanding if and how these conditions are linked is essential to providing effective treatment. Physicians and researchers create explanatory models to develop hypotheses for these connections. In this paper, we discuss the breadth of domains these explanations draw upon as well as the diversity of applications of these models. Throughout the paper, we use example explanatory models from published literature and discuss the state-of-the-art of knowledge representation to support clinicians.