title: Subjective body complaints as an indicator of somatization in elderly patients.
abstract: The authors examined the correlation of subjective body complaints (measured by the Giessen Subjective Complaints List) with sociodemographic data, objective health measures, measures of subjective well-being, and clinicians' ratings of somatization and psychological impairment in 251 cognitively unimpaired general hospital inpatients aged >/=60 years. The level of subjective body complaints correlated most highly with self-assessed life satisfaction and age-related changes and with the clinicians' rating of somatization. The results suggest that the level of subjective body complaints is determined by subjective well-being rather than by objective health measures, and thus subjective body complaints may be an indicator of somatization in elderly inpatients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Münster, Germany. schneig@mednet.uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Gudrun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wachter
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Driesch
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.forename: Hans-Georg
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Nehen
authors.forename: Gereon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heuft
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*