ReviewAssessment2018
Assessment of Somatization and Medically Unexplained Symptoms in Later Life.
Review in Assessment, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Measurement Properties of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 and Somatic Symptom Scale-8: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- What psychological interventions are effective for the management of persistent physical symptoms (PPS)? A systematic review and meta-analysis.British journal of health psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Body, mind, and weather: mechanisms of interaction - a narrative review.Postepy psychiatrii neurologii · 2026Review
- Association between temporomandibular disorders and somatization: a narrative review.Journal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2026Review
- From Psychogenic Cough to Somatic Cough Syndrome.The clinical respiratory journal · 2026Review
- Evidence of Embodiment-based changes in older Adult Language.Psychological research · 2025Review
- Associations Between Informal Caregiving and Physical Functioning: A Longitudinal Analysis of Dutch Older Adults.The Gerontologist · 2025Article
- Feasibility of the development and psychometric properties of a standardized screening instrument for mental disorders in patients with suspected rare diseases: results of the ZSE-DUO study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Characteristics and economic burden of patients with somatoform disorders in Chinese general hospitals: a multicenter cross-sectional study.Annals of general psychiatry · 2023Article
- Weathering within war: Somatic health complaints among Vietnamese older adults exposed to bombing and violence as adolescents in the American war.Journal of psychosomatic research · 2023Article
- Association of Depressive and Somatic Symptoms with Heart Rate Variability in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Somatic symptom severity association with healthcare utilization and costs in surgical inpatients with an episode of abdominal pain.BJS open · 2022Article
- Improving the Measurement of Functional Somatic Symptoms With Item Response Theory.Assessment · 2021Article
- Psychosomatic symptoms questionnaire (PSQ-39): a psychometric study among general population of Iranian adults.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- Symptom Burden Is Associated with Psychological Wellbeing and Mortality in Older Adults.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2021Article
- Hospitalized Patients with Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms: Clinical Context and Economic Costs of Healthcare Management.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms in Hospitalized Patients: A 9-Year Retrospective Observational Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2018Article
- Brief Report: Child Sexual Abuse and Somatic Symptoms in Older Adulthood for Men.Journal of child sexual abuseArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The assessment of medically unexplained symptoms and "somatic symptom disorders" in older adults is challenging due to somatic multimorbidity, which threatens the validity of somatization questionnaires. In a systematic review study, the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and the somatization subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90-item version (SCL-90 SOM) are recommended out of 40 questionnaires for usage in large-scale studies. While both scales measure physical symptoms which in younger persons often refer to unexplained symptoms, in older persons, these symptoms may originate from somatic diseases. Using empirical data, we show that PHQ-15 and SCL-90 SOM among older patients correlate with proxies of somatization as with somatic disease burden. Updating the previous systematic review, revealed six additional questionnaires. Cross-validation studies are needed as none of 46 identified scales met the criteria of suitability for an older population. Nonetheless, specific recommendations can be made for studying older persons, namely the SCL-90 SOM and PHQ-15 for population-based studies, the Freiburg Complaint List and somatization subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory 53-item version for studies in primary care, and finally the Schedule for Evaluating Persistent Symptoms and Somatic Symptom Experiences Questionnaire for monitoring treatment studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.