Somatic symptom count scores do not identify patients with symptoms unexplained by disease: a prospective cohort study of neurology outpatients.

Carson, A; Stone, J; Hansen, C; Duncan, R; Cavanagh, J; Matthews, K; Murray, G; Sharpe, M

Journal article

Somatic symptom count scores do not identify patients with symptoms unexplained by disease: a prospective cohort study of neurology outpatients.

Abstract:: OBJECTIVE: Somatic symptoms unexplained by disease are common in all medical settings. The process of identifying such patients requires a clinical assessment often supported by clinical tests. Such assessments are time-consuming and expensive. Consequently the observation that such patients tend to report a greater number of symptom has led to the use of self-rated somatic symptom counts as a simpler and cheaper diagnostic aid and proxy measure for epidemiological surveys. However, despite their increasing popularity there is little evidence to support their validity. METHODS: We tested the score on a commonly used self-rated symptom questionnaire- the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ 15) (plus enhanced iterations including an additional 10 items on specific neurological symptoms and an additional 5 items on mental state) for diagnostic sensitivity and specificity against a medical assessment (with 18 months follow-up) in a prospective cohort study of 3781 newly attending patients at neurology clinics in Scotland, UK. RESULTS: We found 1144/3781 new outpatients had symptoms that were unexplained by disease. The patients with symptoms unexplained by disease reported higher symptoms count scores (PHQ 15: 5.6 (95% CI 5.4 to 5.8) vs 4.2 (4.1 to 4.4) p<0.0001). However, the PHQ15 performed little better than chance in its ability to identify patients with symptoms unexplained by disease. The findings with the enhanced scales were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Self-rated symptom count scores should not be used to identify patients with symptoms unexplained by disease.

Publication status:: Published

Peer review status:: Peer reviewed

Actions

Email

Email this record

Send the bibliographic details of this record to your email address.

Your Email
Please enter the email address that the record information will be sent to.

-
Your message (optional)
Please add any additional information to be included within the email.
Cite

Cite this record

APA Style

Carson, A., Stone, J., Hansen, C., Duncan, R., Cavanagh, J., Matthews, K., Murray, G., & Sharpe, M. (2014). Somatic symptom count scores do not identify patients with symptoms unexplained by disease: a prospective cohort study of neurology outpatients. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 86(3), 295–301.

MLA Style

Carson, A., et al. “Somatic Symptom Count Scores Do Not Identify Patients with Symptoms Unexplained by Disease: a Prospective Cohort Study of Neurology Outpatients.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, vol. 86, no. 3, BMJ Publishing Group, 2014, pp. 295–301.

Chicago Style

Carson, A, J Stone, C Hansen, R Duncan, J Cavanagh, K Matthews, G Murray, and M Sharpe. 2014. “Somatic Symptom Count Scores Do Not Identify Patients with Symptoms Unexplained by Disease: a Prospective Cohort Study of Neurology Outpatients.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 86 (3): 295–301.
Share
Print