Assessment of multimodal inpatient treatment in psychosomatic medicine using patient reported outcomes: A naturalistic and longitudinal data analysis.

BACKGROUND

Multimodal treatment uses evidence-based therapeutic approaches by integrating pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, relaxation techniques and mind body exercises, social/family therapy, and lifestyle interventions in the treatment of mental disorders. This study investigates changes in mental health indicators among patients undergoing multimodal inpatient care, using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) to monitor symptom development and well-being.

METHODS

We conducted an exploratory retrospective analysis of patients receiving multimodal inpatient treatment at a ward for psychosomatic medicine between January 2015 and February 2024. We included patients with stress-related mental disorders (F32-34, F40-48, F50, F54). We compared their overall well-being and symptom load at the time of hospital admission and discharge using validated questionnaires, using parametric statistical tests.

RESULTS

A total of 395 patients were included in the analysis. A transdiagnostic analysis across all patients showed significant improvements in PRO scores in global, physical, and psychological quality of life, depression severity, illness perception, overall symptom burden, and state anxiety from admission to discharge. In particular, patients with eating disorders and trauma-related conditions experienced the most notable gains in quality of life and reductions in depressive symptoms. Anxiety levels showed the greatest improvement in patients with somatoform disorders, whereas patients with eating disorders experienced smaller reductions.

DISCUSSION: This study highlights that patients undergoing multimodal inpatient treatment for stress-related mental disorders showed improvements in symptoms and well-being across diagnostic groups and these improvements can be captured by routine PRO monitoring. In the future, routine PRO monitoring could inform more individualised treatment adjustments within the multimodal program.