Background. To effectively meet the health care needs of multimorbid patients, the most important psychosocial factors associated with multimorbidity must be discerned. Our aim was to examine the association between self-reported adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and multimorbidity and the contribution of other social, behavioural and psychological factors to this relationship.

Methods. We analysed cross-sectional data from the Mitchelstown study, a population-based cohort recruited from a large primary care centre. ACE was measured by self-report using the Centre for Disease Control ACE questionnaire. A 10-item questionnaire categorizes ACE into three groups that relate to: abuse (emotional, physical or sexual), neglect (emotional or physical) and household dysfunction (domestic abuse, parents divorced, parents in prison, parental addiction or parental mental illness).

Results. Of 2047 participants, 45.3% (n = 927) reported multimorbidity. ACE was reported by 28.4% (n = 248) of multimorbid participants, 21% (n = 113) of single chronic disease participants and 16% (n = 83) of those without chronic disease.

Conclusions. Multimorbidity is independently associated with a history of ACEs. These findings demonstrate the psychosocial complexity associated with multimorbidity and should be used to inform health care provision in this patient cohort.