[Relationship between intensity of annoyance due to throat discomfort and psychological test results].
For 87 male and 100 female patients (average age of 58.5 years) with throat discomfort, we investigated the relationship between the intensity of annoyance caused by throat discomfort and psychological distress. We asked patients to assess their throat discomfort using a 100-mm horizontal visual analogue scale (VAS) which defined the left end (0) as no annoyance and the right end (100) as overwhelming annoyance attributed to throat discomfort. The extent of their psychological distress was evaluated by 3 tests: Cornell Medical Index-Health Questionnaire (CMI), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self-rating Questionnaire for Depression (SRQ-D). Our results indicate that the increase in intensity of annoyance caused by throat discomfort was significantly related to the increase in somatic symptoms (Spearman's rho = 0.164, p = 0.025), symptoms connected to autonomic nerve dysfunction (rho = 0.203, p = 0.006) as measured by CMI and neurotic condition as classified by Fukamachi's diagnostic method for CMI (p = 0.049 by Kruskal-Wallis test). The increase in intensity of annoyance caused by throat discomfort was significantly related to the increase in depressive condition as measured using SRQ-D (rho = 0.263, p < 0.001), but not to that measured using SDS (rho = 0.097, p = 0.185). The results obtained from the present study indicate that VAS is a useful tool for measuring annoyance caused by throat discomfort, yielding valuable information about the intensity of patients' somatic and psychological complaints.
Yamagiwa
M
M
Department of Otolaryngology, Matsusaka Chuo Hospital, Mie.
Hattori
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001342:Autonomic Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D010608:Pharyngeal Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D011581:Psychological Tests