The association between neuroticism and self-reported common somatic symptoms in a population cohort

Abstract

The association between neuroticism and self-reported common somatic symptoms in a population cohort Rosmalen, Judith G. M.; Neeleman, Jan; Gans, Reinold O. B.; de Jonge, Peter Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. AbstractObjective: To test the hypotheses that (1) neuroticism is associated with self-reported somatic symptoms; (2) this association is especially found with regard to psychosomatic symptoms; and (3) it is not solemnly explained by somatic reflections of psychological distress. Methods: We studied the crosssectional association between neuroticism (as measured by EPQ-RSS-N), psychological distress (as measured by GHQ-12 sum score), and the occurrence of 22 common somatic symptoms by linear and logistic regression analyses in a population cohort of 6894 participants. Results: Neuroticism is more strongly associated with the total number of somatic symptoms reported (b=.32) than GHQ-12 sum score (b=.15) and well-established risk markers such as gender (b=.11) and age (b=.04). Neuroticism was associated with all symptoms in individual logistic regressions controlled for age, gender, and psychological distress. Neuroticism is significantly more strongly related to psychosomatic symptoms (b=.36) than to infectious/allergic symptoms (b=.28). Conclusion: In a large, population-based cohort, we confirmed that neuroticism is associated with self-reported somatic symptoms. The associations were not attributable to somatic reflections of psychological distress associated with neuroticism and were relatively strong with respect to psychosomatic symptoms. Future studies should include both objective and subjective measures of health to study the mechanisms that connect neuroticism and ill health. D

The personality trait of neuroticism is strongly associated with long-term morbidity in testicular cancer survivors

“…The significant associations between neuroticism and somatic complaints and somatic comorbidity found in TCSs are in line with large population studies confirming the link between common somatic symptoms and neuroticism [10]. Comparison between these studies seems reasonable since the definition of somatic complaints in our study has the same content as the factor ''psychosomatic/somatoform'' in the study of Rosmalen et al [10].…”

“…Comparison between these studies seems reasonable since the definition of somatic complaints in our study has the same content as the factor ''psychosomatic/somatoform'' in the study of Rosmalen et al [10]. In this study we used self-reporting of medical diseases and complaints, which might give inaccurate results due to possible over-reporting of painful, persistent bodily disorder or under-reporting of asymptomatic diseases.…”

“…This aspect should therefore be taken into consideration. However, the study by Rosmalen et al [10] was also based on self-report.…”

“…nausea, fatigue, and enteralgia), or infectious/allergic ones (e.g. symptoms related to having a cold) [10]. Goodwin et al [11] examined adults in the USA (the National Comorbidity Survey), a study which showed strong association between neuroticism and several physical diseases, e.g.…”

Is somatic comorbidity associated with more somatic symptoms, mental distress, or unhealthy lifestyle in elderly cancer survivors?

“…Studies of comorbid somatic symptoms in elderly cancer survivors without discussion of the underlying comorbid diseases seem less relevant [20]. Finally, associations between common somatic diseases and mental distress [21,22], as well as unhealthy lifestyle, should be taken into account [23].…”