Alexithymia and health-related quality of life in a general population.
BACKGROUND
Alexithymia is thought to reflect a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotion, and, therefore, it may predispose individuals to both psychological and somatic symptoms.


OBJECTIVE
The authors investigated the relationship between alexithymia and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a nationally representative population sample of 5,418 subjects, age 30 to 97 years.


METHODS
Alexithymia was measured with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and HRQoL measured with the 15D, a generic HRQoL measure.


RESULTS
Alexithymia was significantly associated with lower HRQoL independently of other variables. The TAS-20 subfactor Difficulties Identifying Feelings was the strongest common denominator between alexithymia and HRQoL.


CONCLUSIONS
Alexithymia may be a predisposing factor to poorer HRQoL.
Mattila
Aino K
AK
Tampere School of Public Health, FIN-33014, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. aino.mattila@uta.fi
Saarni
Samuli I
SI
Salminen
Jouko K
JK
Huhtala
Heini
H
Sintonen
Harri
H
Joukamaa
Matti
M
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012042:Registries