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How many functional somatic syndromes?

C Nimnuan1, S Rabe-Hesketh, S Wessely

  • 1Academic Department of Psychological Medicine, Guy's King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine and the Institute of Psychiatry, 103 Denmark Hill, SE5 8AZ, London, UK.

Journal of Psychosomatic Research
|October 12, 2001
PubMed
Summary
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This study questions whether distinct functional somatic syndromes are separate conditions. Findings suggest these syndromes may not be independent, challenging current medical classifications.

Area of Science:

  • Medical research
  • Psychosomatic medicine
  • Clinical diagnostics

Background:

  • Medically unexplained symptoms often receive different diagnoses based on the medical specialty consulted.
  • Conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and fibromyalgia are examples of such syndromes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if the 13 identified functional somatic syndromes are discrete, independent entities.
  • To investigate the underlying structure of medically unexplained symptoms.

Main Methods:

  • Consecutive new patients from seven outpatient clinics were recruited.
  • Patients completed symptom and demographic questionnaires.
  • Case notes were reviewed after 3 months to assess symptom explanation.

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Main Results:

  • Analysis of 550 subjects indicated that one factor explained 30% of the variance in 37 unexplained symptoms.
  • The 13 identified functional syndromes were not independent.
  • A two-factor model provided the best fit for the data.

Conclusions:

  • The study suggests reconsidering the existence of distinct functional somatic syndromes (FSSynd) as currently defined.
  • Current clinical definitions of FSSynd may not accurately reflect their independent nature.