title: Pediatric Somatic Symptom Disorders.
abstract: Somatic symptom disorder (SSD) is a common disorder encountered in pediatric medicine. It involves the presentation of physical symptoms that are either disproportionate or inconsistent with history, physical examination, laboratory, and other investigative findings. SSDs result in significant impairment with considerable increase in healthcare utilization, school absenteeism, and the potential for unnecessary diagnostic evaluation and treatment intervention. Patients and families often feel dismissed and may worry that a serious condition has been missed. Primary care providers are frequently frustrated due to a lack of a successful approach to patients and families impacted by SSD. The result is often a cycle of disability, frustration and missed opportunities for collaboration towards enhanced patient functionality. This review summarizes the current evidence-based understanding, as well as insights from clinician experience, on the evaluation and management of pediatric SSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Michigan Medical School, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, L5023, SPC 5277, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. nmalas@med.umich.edu.
authors.forename: Nasuh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ortiz-Aguayo
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, USA.|Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Primary Children's Hospital, Salt Lake City, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ibeziako
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D015897:Comorbidity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D019260:Expressed Emotion; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010808:Physical Examination; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012307:Risk Factors; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Conversion; Functional; Medically unexplained symptoms; Pediatric; Somatic symptom disorder; Somatization; Somatoform