- Title
- Using the Patient Health Questionnaire to estimate prevalence and gender differences of somatic symptoms and psychological co-morbidity in a secondary inpatient population with abdominal pain
- Creator
- Stieler, Melissa; Pockney, Peter; Campbell, Cassidy; Thirugnanasundralingam, Vaisnavi; Gan, Lachlan; Spittal, Matthew; Carter, Gregory
- Relation
- Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry Vol. 56, Issue 8, p. 994-1005
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00048674211044639
- Publisher
- Sage
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Background: Somatic disorders and somatic symptoms are common in primary care populations; however, little is known about the prevalence in surgical populations. Identification of inpatients with high somatic symptom burden and psychological co-morbidity could improve access to effective psychological therapies. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis (n = 465) from a prospective longitudinal cohort study of consecutive adult admissions with non-traumatic abdominal pain, at a tertiary hospital in New South Wales, Australia. We estimated somatic symptom prevalence with the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 at three cut-points: moderate (⩾10), severe (⩾15) and ‘bothered a lot’ on ⩾3 symptoms; and psychological co-morbidity with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 at standard (⩾10) cut-points. We also examined gender differences for somatic symptoms and psychological co-morbidity. Results: Prevalence was moderate (52%), female predominance (odds ratio = 1.71; 95% confidence interval = [1.18, 2.48]), severe (20%), no gender difference (1.32; [0.83, 2.10]) and ‘bothered a lot’ on ⩾3 symptoms (53%), female predominance (2.07; [1.42, 3.03]). Co-morbidity of depressive, anxiety and somatic symptoms ranged from 8.2% to 15.9% with no gender differences. Conclusion: Somatic symptoms were common and psychological triple co-morbidity occurred in one-sixth of a clinical population admitted for abdominal pain. Co-ordinated surgical and psychological clinical intervention and changes in clinical service organisation may be warranted to provide optimal care.
- Subject
- somatic symptoms; prevalence; Patient Health Questionnaire-15; abdominal pain; surgical
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1453989
- Identifier
- uon:44801
- Identifier
- ISSN:0004-8674
- Language
- eng
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