Somatoform disorders among first-time referrals to a neurology service.
Consecutive new neurology inpatients and outpatients (N=198) were assessed for somatoform disorders by using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry. Sixty-one percent of the patients (59% of the female patients and 63% of the male patients) had at least one medically unexplained symptom, and 34.9% fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for an ICD-10 somatoform disorder (27.7% of the male patients, 41.3% of the female patients, 20.5% of the inpatients, and 43.2% of the outpatients). The prevalence figures were about the same when DSM-IV criteria for somatoform disorders were used. Of the patients with a somatoform disorder, 60.5% also had another mental disorder. Somatization disorder, somatoform autonomic dysfunction, pain disorder, and neurasthenia were equally prevalent (6%-7%); dissociative (conversion) disorders and undifferentiated somatoform disorders were found in 2-3% of the patients. Fifty percent of the patients with somatoform disorders were identified by the neurologists.
Fink
Per
P
Research Clinic for Functional Disorders and Psychosomatics, Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade 44, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. flip@as.aaa.dk
Steen Hansen
Morten
M
Søndergaard
Lene
L
D000368:Aged; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D009462:Neurology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*