title: Pharmacoepidemiology of patients hospitalized for somatoform disorders in psychiatric hospitals and departments.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pharmacological treatment is used in patients with somatoform disorders (SD) although the empirical evidence is scarce. We evaluated the current pharmacological treatment strategies used for psychiatric in-patients diagnosed with SD in Central Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional data of the pharmacological treatment, age, gender, and the primary psychiatric diagnosis of 70,566 in-patients were collected on 2 days in April and October of the years 1994-2006 in 57 psychiatric hospitals and departments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred fifty nine patients corresponding to 0.51% of the psychiatric in-patient population were hospitalized for SD. 94.7% of the SD patients received psychopharmacological treatment including antidepressants (78.2%), neuroleptics (43.3%), tranquilizers (22.6%), hypnotics (15.6%), and anticonvulsants (12.3%). 61.3% were treated with psychotropic combinations, most commonly antidepressant and neuroleptic (36.2%). In addition, 63.7% received one or multiple somatic medications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As compared to general medical and neurological in-patient populations, SD patients represent a small proportion of the psychiatric in-patient population. They commonly receive multiple psychotropic and somatic medications. The psychotropics used have predominantly sedating characteristics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SD patients are at risk of polypharmacy in psychiatry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. adrian.mundt@charite.de
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mundt
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ströhle
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heimann
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinz
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grohmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017891:Pharmacoepidemiology; D019338:Polypharmacy; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs