ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2019
Persistent unexplained physical symptoms: a prospective longitudinal cohort study in UK primary care.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Guided versus unguided internet-administered emotional awareness and expression therapy (I-EAET) for patients with persistent physical symptoms: A randomized trial.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Psychological factors and obesity, not thyroid biomarkers, predict thyroid-dependent quality of life in treated hypothyroidism: a cross-sectional study.BMC endocrine disorders · 2025Article
- Article
- The associations among childhood trauma, loneliness, mental health symptoms, and indicators of social exclusion in adulthood: A UK Biobank study.Brain and behavior · 2023Article
- (Dis)respect and shame in the context of 'medically unexplained' illness.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2022Article
- The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria.Journal of personalized medicine · 2022Article
- Female sex and femininity independently associate with common somatic symptom trajectories.Psychological medicine · 2022Article
- Primary hypothyroidism and quality of life.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2022Review
- Is new daily persistent headache a fallout of somatization? An observational study.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022Observational
- Making sense of symptoms, clinicians and systems: a qualitative evaluation of a facilitated support group for patients with medically unexplained symptoms.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Development of an eHealth programme for self-management of persistent physical symptoms: a qualitative study on user needs in general practice.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Medically unexplained symptoms: are we making progress?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
- Medically unexplained symptoms: are we making progress?The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnexplained physical symptoms (UPS) are extremely common among primary care attenders, but little is known about their longer-term outcome.
aimTo investigate the persistence of somatic symptoms at 6 months among a cohort with multiple UPS, and identify prognostic factors associated with worsening symptom scores. DESIGN AND
settingProspective longitudinal cohort study involving adults attending UK general practice in North and Central London between January and December 2013.
methodConsecutive adults attending nine general practices were screened to identify those with at least three UPS. Eligible participants completed measures of symptom severity (measured using the Patient Health Questionnaire Somatic Symptom Module [PHQ-15]), physical and mental wellbeing, and past health and social history, and were followed up after 6 months. Multivariable linear regression analysis was conducted to identify prognostic factors associated with the primary outcome: somatic symptom severity.
resultsOverall, 245/294 (83%) provided 6-month outcome data. Of these, 135/245 (55%) reported still having UPS, 103/245 (42%) had symptoms still under investigation, and only 26/245 (11%) reported complete symptom resolution. Being female, higher baseline somatic symptom severity, poorer physical functioning, experience of childhood physical abuse, and perception of poor financial wellbeing were significantly associated with higher somatic symptom severity scores at 6 months.
conclusionThis study has shown that at 6 months few participants had complete resolution of unexplained somatic symptoms. GPs should be made aware of the likelihood of UPS persisting, and the factors that make this more likely, to inform decision making and care planning. There is a need to develop prognostic tools that can predict the risk of poor outcomes.
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