Are illness perceptions related to future healthcare expenditure in patients with somatoform disorders?. Issue 13 (October 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Frostholm, L.; Petrie, K. J.; Ørnbøl, E.; Fink, P.
• Is Part Of: Psychological medicine. Volume 44:Issue 13(2014)
• Page Start: 2903
• Page End: 2911
• Publication Date: 2014-10
• Subjects: Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Medicine and psychology -- Periodicals; Clinical psychology -- Periodicals; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1017/S003329171400035X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0033-2917

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="sec_a1"> <title>Background</title> <p>Somatoform disorders are costly for society in terms of increased healthcare expenditure. Patients' illness perceptions have been found to play a role in somatoform disorders. However, it is unclear whether illness perceptions predict higher health costs in these patients.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a2" sec-type="methods"> <title>Method</title> <p>A total of 1785 primary care patients presenting a new health complaint completed a questionnaire on their illness perceptions and emotional distress before the consultation. The physicians completed a questionnaire for each patient on diagnostics after the consultation. In a stratified subsample, physician interviewers established diagnoses of DSM-IV somatization and undifferentiated somatoform disorders (<italic>n</italic> = 144) using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry. Healthcare expenditure was obtained from Danish health registers for a 2-year follow-up period.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a3" sec-type="results"> <title>Results</title> <p>Patients had more negative perceptions of their well-defined physical health problems when they had a co-morbid somatoform disorder. A strong illness identity [<italic>β</italic> = 0.120, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.029–0.212, <italic>p</italic> = 0.012], perceived negative consequences (<italic>β</italic> = 0.010, 95% CI 0.001–0.019, <italic>p</italic> = 0.024), a long timeline perspective (<italic>β</italic> = 0.013, 95% CI 0.005–0.021, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001), low personal control (<italic>β</italic> = − 0.009, 95% CI –0.015 to −0.002, <italic>p</italic> = 0.011) and negative emotional representations (<italic>β</italic> = 0.009, 95% CI 0.002–0.017, <italic>p</italic> = 0.020) predicted healthcare expenditure in somatoform disorders.</p> </sec> <sec id="sec_a4" sec-type="conclusion"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>The results suggest that illness perceptions play a role in the perpetuation of symptoms in somatoform disorders and predict higher future healthcare expenditure among a subgroup of these patients.</p> </sec> </abstract>