title: The Association of Sensory Responsiveness with Somatic Symptoms and Illness Anxiety.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Somatoform Disorders or Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders are a major public health problem.The pathophysiology underlying these disorders is not yet understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to explore if sensory responsiveness could contribute to a better understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms underlying two key symptoms of Somatoform Disorders, namely somatic symptoms and illness anxiety.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured vibrotactile perception thresholds with the HVLab Perception Meter and examined their association with somatic symptoms, illness anxiety and trait anxiety. A sample of 205 volunteers participated in the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sensory responsiveness was neither associated with somatic symptoms (β = -0.01; 95% confidence interval (CI), -0.37, 0.39) nor trait anxiety (β = -0.07; 95% CI, -0.30, 0.07). However, lower vibrotactile perception thresholds were associated with increased scores of the overall illness anxiety scale (β = -0.65; 95% CI, -1.21, -0.14) and its constituent subscale disease conviction (β = -2.07; 95% CI, -3.94, -0.43).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that increased sensory responsiveness is associated with illness anxiety and hence should be examined further as potential target within the etiopathology of somatoform disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. donja.rodic@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Donja
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodic
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. andrea.meyer@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Andrea Hans
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. roselind.lieb@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Roselind
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lieb
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. gunther.meinlschmidt@unibas.ch.|Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. gunther.meinlschmidt@unibas.ch.|Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 60/62, 4055, Basel, Switzerland. gunther.meinlschmidt@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Gunther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meinlschmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D055698:Touch Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration
keywords: Illness anxiety; Medically unexplained somatic symptoms; Sensory responsiveness; Vibrotactile perception threshold