The prevalence of somatoform disorders in internal medicine outpatient departments of 23 general hospitals in Shenyang, China.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to assess the prevalence, demographics and risk factors of somatoform disorders (SDs) in departments of internal medicine at 23 randomly selected general hospitals in Shenyang, China.

METHOD: A two-stage screening process was followed based on an expanded Chinese version of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders . A total of 5312 consecutive attendees of the outpatient at the departments of internal medicine were screened; 60 patients of 15 years or older were confirmed to have current SDs.

RESULTS

The 1-month prevalence of any type of SD was 1.56% [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.19%-2.02%], and those of undifferentiated SD, pain disorder, hypochondriasis and somatization disorder were 0.68% (0.47%-0.98%), 0.44% (0.15%-1.26%), 0.38% (0.22%-0.64%) and 0.06% (0.02%-0.20%), respectively. The prevalence of any SD and two types of SDs was higher in females than in males: relative risk (95% CI) for any SD=1.82 (1.11-2.97), for pain disorder=12.70 (1.63-99.19).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of SDs among outpatients at urban China's internal medicine departments is lower than that reported in most Western countries. SDs were more prevalent among female outpatients at general hospitals.