ArticleBMJ open2021
Validity and reliability of the diagnostic codes for hypochondriasis and dysmorphophobia in the Swedish National Patient Register: a retrospective chart review.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- A detailed investigation of anxiety disorders in children of clinically anxious parents: a population-based study.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Article
- Familial Clustering of Hypochondriasis.Psychotherapy and psychosomatics · 2026Article
- Risk of substance-related problems in hypochondriasis.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 1,234 individuals diagnosed with trichotillomania in the Swedish National Patient Register.Scientific reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIn the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10), hypochondriasis (illness anxiety disorder) and dysmorphophobia (body dysmorphic disorder) share the same diagnostic code (F45.2). However, the Swedish ICD-10 allows for these disorders to be coded separately (F45.2 and F45.2A, respectively), potentially offering unique opportunities for register-based research on these conditions. We assessed the validity and reliability of their ICD-10 codes in the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR).
designRetrospective chart review.
methodsSix hundred individuals with a diagnosis of hypochondriasis or dysmorphophobia (300 each) were randomly selected from the NPR. Their medical files were requested from the corresponding clinics, located anywhere in Sweden. Two independent raters assessed each file according to ICD-10 definitions and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision and Fifth Edition criteria. Raters also completed the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Per cent between-rater agreement and positive predictive value (PPV). Intraclass correlation coefficients for the CGI-S and the GAF.
resultsEighty-four hypochondriasis and 122 dysmorphophobia files were received and analysed. The inter-rater agreement rate regarding the presence or absence of a diagnosis was 95.2% for hypochondriasis and 92.6% for dysmorphophobia. Sixty-seven hypochondriasis files (79.8%) and 111 dysmorphophobia files (91.0%) were considered 'true positive' cases (PPV=0.80 and PPV=0.91, respectively). CGI-S scores indicated that symptoms were moderately to markedly severe, while GAF scores suggested moderate impairment for hypochondriasis cases and moderate to serious impairment for dysmorphophobia cases. CGI-S and GAF inter-rater agreement were good for hypochondriasis and moderate for dysmorphophobia.
conclusionsThe Swedish ICD-10 codes for hypochondriasis and dysmorphophobia are sufficiently valid and reliable for register-based studies. The results of such studies should be interpreted in the context of a possible over-representation of severe and highly impaired cases in the register, particularly for dysmorphophobia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.