Somatization in primary care: pattern and correlates in a clinic in Nigeria

During a study of mental disorder in a primary care clinic in Nigeria, 214 patients, selected on the basis of their scores on the General Health Questionnaire, were interviewed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, a structured clinical interview that allows for a systematic assessment of somatization symptoms. Only 1.1% of this clinical sample fulfilled the DSM-III-R criteria for somatization disorder, but 4.7% and 10.8% met the criteria for somatoform pain disorder and undifferentiated somatoform disorder, respectively. Age, gender and the presence of a DSM-III-R diagnosis of depression or dysthymia accounted for significant variability in the number of reported somatization symptoms. On factor analysis, a factor with close similarity to DSM-III-R somatization disorder was obtained. This factor is associated with the demographic features commonly found among patients with DSM-III-R somatization disorder.