ArticleBJS open2022
Somatic symptom severity association with healthcare utilization and costs in surgical inpatients with an episode of abdominal pain.
Article in BJS open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Somatisation Scores Associated With Healthcare Costs and Utilisation in a Sample of Emergency Department Patients.Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA · 2026Article
- Review article: Somatization Disorders in emergency department: A critical overview of current challenges and future directions.Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA · 2025Review
- An evidence update to explore molecular targets and protective mechanisms of apigenin against abdominal aortic aneurysms based on network pharmacology and experimental validation.Molecular diversity · 2024Article
- Functional somatic symptoms in Emergency Department frequent presenters.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Optimism, Resilience, and General Self-Efficacy Predict Lower Somatic Burden during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSomatic syndromes are present in 30 per cent of primary healthcare populations and are associated with increased health service use and health costs. Less is known about secondary care surgical inpatient populations.
methodsThis was a prospective longitudinal cohort study (n = 465) of consecutive adult admissions with an episode of non-traumatic abdominal pain, to the Acute General Surgical Unit at a tertiary hospital in New South Wales, Australia. Somatic symptom severity (SSS) was dichotomized using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-15 with a cut-off point of 10 or higher (medium-high SSS) and compared pre-admission and during admission. Total healthcare utilization and direct costs were stratified by a PHQ-15 score of 10 or higher. Linear regression was used to examine differences in costs, and a multivariable linear regression was used to examine the relationship of PHQ-15 scores of 10 or higher to total costs, reported as mean total costs of care and percentage difference (95 per cent confidence intervals).
resultsFifty-two per cent (n = 242) of participants had a medium-high SSS with greater pre-admission and admission interval health service costs. Mean total direct costs of care were 25 per cent (95 per cent c.i. 8 to 44 per cent) higher in the PHQ-15 score of 10 or higher group: mean difference €1401.93 (95 per cent c.i. €512.19 to €2273.67). The multivariable model showed a significant association of PHQ-15 scores of 10 or higher (2.1 per cent; 0.2-4.1 per cent greater for each one-point increase in score) with total hospital costs, although the strongest contributions to cost were older age, operative management, and lower socioeconomic level. There was a linear relationship between PHQ scores and total healthcare costs.
conclusionsMedium to high levels of somatic symptoms are common in surgical inpatients with abdominal pain and are independently associated with greater healthcare utilization.
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.