Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35800641›Full record

ArticleJournal of general and family medicine2022

Characteristics of outpatients with functional somatic syndromes at a university hospital's general medicine clinic.

Junji Nishiyama, Tetsuya Abe, Sumito Imaizumi, Akira Yamane, Mikihiko Fukunaga

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of general and family medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
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2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Junji NishiyamaDepartment of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine Kansai Medical University Hirakata Japan.
Tetsuya AbeDepartment of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine Kansai Medical University Hirakata Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2529-9291
Sumito ImaizumiDepartment of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine Kansai Medical University Hirakata Japan.
Akira YamaneDepartment of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine Kansai Medical University Hirakata Japan.
Mikihiko FukunagaDepartment of Psychosomatic and General Internal Medicine Kansai Medical University Hirakata Japan.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The term medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) is unhelpful for both patients and physicians, and more acceptable illness categories are needed as substitutes for MUS. While some potential substitutes are characterized by excessive psychological burden related to somatic symptoms, "functional somatic syndromes" (FSS) is a category that focuses on physical dysfunction and emphasizes similarities among individual syndromes. Examples of FSS include irritable bowel syndrome, functional dyspepsia, and fibromyalgia syndrome. This study aimed to distinguish FSS from MUS and compare the somatic and psychobehavioral characteristics of FSS with those of other diseases. Methods: This study included 1975 first-visit outpatients at a Japanese university hospital's general medicine clinic. According to their first-listed diagnosis, they were classified as having FSS, acute infection, organic disease (OD), psychiatric disorder, and unknown condition (UC). The somatic symptom burden and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were assessed using the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 and EuroQol-5 Dimension, respectively; the involvement of psychobehavioral factors affecting somatic symptoms was also evaluated. Results: Overall, 33% of patients were included in the FSS category, and 93% of the supposed MUS (FSS and UC) were diagnosed with FSS. Compared with OD, FSS showed more severe somatic symptom burden, similar reduced HRQoL, and higher involvement of psychobehavioral factors. Conclusion: It can be useful to improve FSS diagnostic skills for the reduction of MUS misdiagnosis. Psychobehavioral factors might be less associated with MUS (in the narrow sense of the term) than FSS.

Indexed as

functional somatic syndromesgeneral medicinehealth‐related quality of lifemedically unexplained symptomsprimary carepsychobehavioral factors

Identifiers

PMID35800641
PMCPMC9249930

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