Functional somatic syndromes: asking about exclusionary medical conditions results in decreased prevalence and overlap rates

BMC Public Health

Urs M Nater¹  Susanne Fischer¹ 

[1] Clinical Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Marburg, Gutenbergstrasse 18, 35032 Marburg, Germany

关键词: Prevalence;    Population-based;    Overlap;    Functional somatic syndromes;    Epidemiology;    Diagnostic criteria;   

Others  :  1126398
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-1034

 received in 2014-04-04, accepted in 2014-09-30,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

The diagnosis of functional somatic syndromes (FSS) requires 1) presence of somatic symptoms, and 2) absence of medical conditions potentially accounting for these symptoms. Due to the limited feasibility of medical examinations, epidemiological research on FSS has neglected to assess the second criterion. Our objective was therefore to evaluate the implications of considering information on exclusionary medical conditions in epidemiological research on FSS.

Methods

A survey among 3’054 students was conducted. We compared prevalence rates and overlap of 17 FSS obtained by: 1) a symptom-based strategy and 2) a symptom-and-exclusion-based strategy including information on exclusionary medical conditions.

Results

The symptom-and-exclusion-based strategy led to a marked decrease in prevalence rates compared to the symptom-based strategy. Furthermore, it resulted in fewer individuals who were affected by multiple FSS.

Conclusions

Adding self-reported information on exclusionary medical conditions leads to a significant decrease in the prevalence and overlap of FSS. More rigorous approaches to studying FSS should be adopted.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Fischer and Nater; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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