Symptoms in the general Norwegian adult population - prevalence and associated factors

Abstract

Background Patients´ own perceptions and evaluations of symptoms, functioning and other health-related factors, i.e. Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs), are important elements for providing good patient care. Symptoms are subjective and best elicited by the patient orally or by using PRO measures (PROMs). Reference values on frequently used PROMs facilitate the interpretation of PROMs scores both in clinics and research settings, by comparing patient data with relevant samples from the general population. Objectives Study objectives were to (1) present reference values for the M.D. Anderson Symptom inventory (MDASI) (2) examine the occurrence and intensity of symptoms assessed by the MDASI in a general Norwegian adult population sample, and (3) examine factors associated with higher symptom burden defined as the sum score of all symptoms, and factors associated with symptoms` interference on functions Methods In 2015, MDASI was sent by mail to a representative sample of the general Norwegian adult population (N = 6165). Medical comorbidities were assessed by the Self-Administered Comorbidity Questionnaire. Depression was self-reported on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). Linear multivariable regression analysis was used to examine for factors associated with MDASI sum score and factors associated with symptoms’ interference on functions. Results The response rate was 36%. More females (54%) than males (46%) responded. Mean age was 55 years (SD 14). The most frequent symptoms were fatigue (59.7%), drowsiness (56.2%) and pain (56.1%). Fatigue, pain and disturbed sleep had the highest mean scores. The presence of one or more comorbidities, increasing PHQ-9 score and lower level of education were associated with higher MDASI sum score (p<0.001). The MDASI sum score and the PHQ-9 score were positively associated with all interference items (p<0.001) except for walking (p=0.22). Conclusion This study provides the first Norwegian reference values for the MDASI. The presence of one or more comorbidities, higher level of depressive symptoms and lower level of education were significantly associated with higher MDASI sum score. These covariates must be controlled for when using the reference values.

Self-reported symptom severity, general health, and impairment in post-acute phases of COVID-19: retrospective cohort study of Swedish public employees

“…day of survey, past week, past month. In our study, as in previous studies of symptoms in the general population 9,10 , symptoms that have previously been associated with postcovid were very frequent irrespective of COVID-19 status. Thus, the proportion of participants with a given symptom may be a less useful metric to delineate postcovid from other conditions.…”

“…It is also likely that people with longstanding health problems following COVID-19 were more motivated to participate, which could potentially cause overestimation of associations between COVID-19 and current health status. However, we note that the prevalence of symptoms 9,10 and level of functional impairment 26 among PCR negative participants was similar to previous estimates from the general population. This indicates that they are comparable to other populations not infected by SARS-CoV-2.…”

“…Participant characteristics. The online survey consisted of about 70 questions and took a median (IQR) of 11 (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15) minutes to complete. Self-reported occupation was categorized by following the Swedish version of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) as closely as possible 23 .…”

Prevalence and predictors of long COVID among non-hospitalised adolescents and young adults: a prospective controlled cohort study

“…reported a point prevalence of fatigue at 34-38% among British adolescents 22 . Similar high rates have been reported for other symptoms, such as dyspnoea and memory problems 23 . Secondly, several studies have documented a signi cant increase in mental distress in the general population during the pandemic 24 , particularly affecting young people 25 , which in turn may impact on physical symptoms 15 .…”