title: Trends in multiple recurrent health complaints in 15-year-olds in 35 countries in Europe, North America and Israel from 1994 to 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health complaints are a good indicator of an individual's psychosocial health and well-being. Studies have shown that children and adolescents report health complaints which can cause significant individual burden.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study, this article describes trends in multiple recurrent health complaints (MHC) in 35 countries among N = 237 136 fifteen-year-olds from 1994 to 2010. MHC was defined as the presence of two or more health complaints at least once a week. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate trends across the five survey cycles for each country.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lowest prevalence throughout the period 1994-2010 was 16.9% in 1998 in Austria and highest in 2006 in Israel (54.7%). Overall, six different trend patterns could be identified: No linear or quadratic trend (9 countries), linear decrease (7 countries), linear increase (5 countries), U-shape (4 countries), inverted U-shape (6 countries) and unstable (4 countries).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Trend analyses are valuable in providing hints about developments in populations as well as for benchmarking and evaluation purposes. The high variation in health complaints between the countries requires further investigation, but may also reflect the subjective nature of health complaints.
authors: 1 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany v.ottova-jordan@uke.de.
authors: Veronika
authors: V
authors: Ottová-Jordan
authors: 2 Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway 3 Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors: Otto R F
authors: OR
authors: Smith
authors: 4 Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia.
authors: Inese
authors: I
authors: Gobina
authors: 5 Department of Child and Adolescent Health, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
authors: Joanna
authors: J
authors: Mazur
authors: 6 Public Health Agency of Sweden, Solna, Sweden 7 Department of Human Sciences, Kristianstads University, Kristianstad, Sweden.
authors: Lilly
authors: L
authors: Augustine
authors: 8 Department of Public Health and Pediatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors: Franco
authors: F
authors: Cavallo
authors: 9 Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors: Raili
authors: R
authors: Välimaa
authors: 10 Institute of Medical Sociology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors: Irene
authors: I
authors: Moor
authors: 2 Department of Health Promotion and Development, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors: Torbjørn
authors: T
authors: Torsheim
authors: 11 Institute of Public Health, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Safarik University, Kosice, Slovak Republic.
authors: Zuzana
authors: Z
authors: Katreniakova
authors: 12 Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: Wilma
authors: W
authors: Vollebergh
authors: 1 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
authors: Ulrike
authors: U
authors: Ravens-Sieberer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000067697:Adolescent Health; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009656:North America / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence