ArticleThe journal of nutrition, health & aging2021
Symptom Burden Is Associated with Psychological Wellbeing and Mortality in Older Adults.
Article in The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pain, sleep complaints, and depressive symptom clusters and their association with cognitive decline in older Mexican Americans.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Mental health in the peri-hospital period of older patients: the roles of physical symptoms burden and sleep quality.Age and ageing · 2026Article
- Symptom experience subtypes and their association with social isolation in older adults with diabetes and coronary heart disease: a latent profile analysis study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Subjective geriatric complaints as predictors of disability and mortality in community-dwelling older adults: a 5-year cohort study.Age and ageing · 2025Article
- Multimorbidity Is Associated With Symptom Severity and Disease Progression in Patients with Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation-Data From the RACE V Study.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Development of a keyword library for capturing PRO-CTCAE-focused "symptom talk" in oncology conversations.JAMIA open · 2023Article
- Changes in symptom burden from 2019 to 2021 amongst community-dwelling older adults in Finland.Age and ageing · 2023Article
- Gender specific somatic symptom burden and mortality risk in the general population.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Symptom burden in community-dwelling older people: temporal trends in the Helsinki Aging Study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2021Article
- Development of a complex intervention to improve mobility and participation of older people with vertigo, dizziness and balance disorders in primary care: a mixed methods study.BMC family practice · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
importanceOver half of outpatient visits are due to physical symptoms; yet, the significance of symptoms in relation to older people's wellbeing and prognosis has gained very little research attention.
objectivesThis study aims to analyze the prognostic value of symptom burden, derived from symptom count and frequency, in an older cohort aged 75 to 95. We also explore the association between symptom burden and psychological wellbeing.
designRandomly assigned cohorts of community-dwelling people aged 75-95 filled in the postal questionnaire of the Helsinki Aging Study in 2009.
settingCommunity-based, postal questionnaires (survey response rate 74%).
participants1583 community-dwelling people aged 75-95 in the urban Helsinki area. Main outcomes and measures: The inquired symptoms were dizziness, back pain, joint pain, chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, leg pain when walking, loss of appetite, and urinary incontinence. Symptom burden was calculated according to the number of symptoms and their frequency (score range: 0-8). The participants were subdivided into four groups according to their symptom burden. Mortality data was extracted from the Finnish Population Register in 2014. Psychological wellbeing (PWB) was measured using the validated PWB score.
resultsOf 1583 participants, 18% reported no symptoms over the past 2 weeks (Group 0), 31% scored 0.5-1 in the symptom burden score (Group 1), 23% scored 1.5-2 (Group 2), and 28% scored 2.5-8 (Group 3). There was a linear relationship between symptom burden and comorbidities, functional status, falls, and PWB. The groups showed a significant difference in 5-year mortality, even adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidities: Group 1 1.18, 95% CI 0.84-1.66; Group 2 1.63, 95% CI 1.15-2.31, and Group 3 2.08, 95% CI 1.49-2.91 compared to Group 0 (p for linearity <0.001). Conclusion and relevance: Symptom burden is associated with higher mortality and lower PWB independent of comorbidities in community-dwelling people aged 75-95. We conclude that somatic symptoms need to be assessed when examining the general health status of an aging patient. Self-reported symptoms seem to convey information about health that cannot be derived from medical diagnoses only.
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