The epidemiology of multiple somatic symptoms

Creed, Francis; Davies, Ian P.; Jackson, Joan L.; Littlewood, Alison; Chew‐Graham, Carolyn; Tomenson, Barbara; Macfarlane, Gary J.; Barsky, Arthur J.; Katon, Wayne; McBeth, John

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.01.009

Cited by 177 publications

(157 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…One-third of somatic symptoms do not have a disease-based explanation and are considered to be medically unexplained (Kroenke, 2003). Physical symptoms are also associated with increased comorbidities, including depression and anxiety, and with functional impairment (Kroenke et al, 1994;Kroenke, Jackson, and Chamberlin, 1997;Escobar et al, 1987;Kroenke, 2003;Hoedeman et al, 2010;Creed et al, 2012). Physical symptoms are common in the military, and multiple physical symptoms have been reported following deployment; in particular, chronic multisymptom illness was reported following Gulf War deployment (Hyams, Wignall, and Roswell, 1996;Fukuda et al, 1998).…”

Section: Physical Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

2015 Department of Defense Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS)

Meadows¹,

Engel²,

Collins³

et al. 2018

154

165

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This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/RR1695Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2018 RAND CorporationR® is a registered trademark. Cover photo credits from top to bottom:Photo by Cpl PrefaceThe Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS) is the U.S. Department of Defense's flagship survey for understanding the health, health-related behaviors, and well-being of service members. Originally implemented to assess substance use (i.e., illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco), the survey now includes content areas-such as mental and physical health, sexual behavior, and postdeployment problems-that may affect force readiness or the ability to meet the demands of military life. The HRBS is intended to supplement administrative data already collected by the armed forces. In 2014, the Defense Health Agency asked the RAND Corporation to review previous iterations of the HRBS, update survey content, administer a revised version of the survey, and analyze data from the resulting 2015 HRBS of active-duty personnel. The 2015 HRBS included U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard personnel, and this report details the survey methodology and results. No expertise in health, health-related behaviors, or health care is required to read this report. However, it may be of most use to individuals who provide direct care related to the health and health-related behaviors of active-duty service members or who are responsible for making related policy decisions. Additional information can be found in a series of online appendixes.This research was sponsored by the Defense Health Agency and conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelli...

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Section: Physical Symptomsmentioning

confidence: 99%

2015 Department of Defense Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS)

Meadows¹,

Engel²,

Collins³

et al. 2018

154

165

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show abstract

“…Crude and multivariate linear regression was used to analyse the relationship between months in youth unemployment (age [16][17][18][19][20][21] and functional somatic symptoms at age 21 and 42, stratified for women and men. Adjustments were made for functional somatic symptoms at age 16, parents' occupational class, educational level at age 21 and months in unemployment in adulthood (age .…”

Section: Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This concept refers to physical symptoms, such as headaches, abdominal pain, musculoskeletal pain, dizziness and fatigue, which are closely related to anxiety and depression. 5,[18][19][20] However, they represent a separate dimension and are not fully explained by internalized mental health symptoms. 5,21 They have also been shown to be related to long-term mental health problems such as suicide.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Youth unemployment and functional somatic symptoms in adulthood: results from the Northern Swedish cohort

Brydsten

Hammarström

Strandh

et al. 2015

Eur J Public Health

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“…Multiple somatic symptoms, such as headache and musculoskeletal (MS) pain, have been associated with an increased risk of poor health status [1][2][3] and high health care use [3][4][5] independently of the etiology of the symptoms. This indicates an importance of focusing on multiple symptoms in health research and not only on a few specific symptoms or diseases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This indicates an importance of focusing on multiple symptoms in health research and not only on a few specific symptoms or diseases. Studies looking at the epidemiology of multiple symptoms have mainly used the number of symptoms to identify groups at risk [1][2][3][4] using standard symptom questionnaires, eg, the Patient Health Questionnaire 6 and the Symptom Checklist. 7 However, it can be questioned if this method identifies the persons at the highest risk of poor health and hence leads to blurred or distorted results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Somatic symptom profiles in the general population: A latent class analysis in a Danish population-based health survey

Eliasen¹,

Kreiner

Ebstrup³

et al. 2015

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify and describe somatic symptom profiles in the general adult population in order to enable further epidemiological research within multiple somatic symptoms. Methods: Information on 19 self-reported common somatic symptoms was achieved from a population-based questionnaire survey of 36,163 randomly selected adults in the Capital Region of Denmark (55.4% women). The participants stated whether they had been considerably bothered by each symptom within 14 days prior to answering the questionnaire. We used latent class analysis to identify the somatic symptom profiles. The profiles were further described by their association with age, sex, chronic disease, and self-perceived health. Results: We identified 10 different somatic symptom profiles defined by number, type, and site of the symptoms. The majority of the population (74.0%) had a profile characterized by no considerable bothering symptoms, while a minor group of 3.9% had profiles defined by a high risk of multiple somatic symptoms. The remaining profiles were more likely to be characterized by a few specific symptoms. The profiles could further be described by their associations with age, sex, chronic disease, and self-perceived health. Conclusion:The identified somatic symptom profiles could be distinguished by number, type, and site of the symptoms. The profiles have the potential to be used in further epidemiological studies on risk factors and prognosis of somatic symptoms but should be confirmed in other population-based studies with specific focus on symptom burden.

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The epidemiology of multiple somatic symptoms

Cited by 177 publications

References 71 publications

2015 Department of Defense Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS)

2015 Department of Defense Health Related Behaviors Survey (HRBS)

Youth unemployment and functional somatic symptoms in adulthood: results from the Northern Swedish cohort

Somatic symptom profiles in the general population: A latent class analysis in a Danish population-based health survey

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