Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Chronic functional somatic symptoms: a single syndrome?

Tim C olde Hartman1, Peter L B J Lucassen, Eloy H van de Lisdonk

  • 1Department of Family Medicine, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, The Netherlands. t.oldehartman@hag.umcn.nl

The British Journal of General Practice : the Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
|December 14, 2004
PubMed
Summary

Patients with chronic functional somatic symptoms exhibit diverse symptoms and increased healthcare utilization, including more medication and referrals, years before diagnosis. This suggests symptoms do not form distinct syndromes, challenging subspecialty classifications.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Pandemic preparedness: potential of routine general practice data for infectious disease early signal detection.

Epidemiology and infection·2026
Same author

Healthcare inequalities in general practice due to educational level: A retrospective cohort study analysing patients' presentation and GP response to requests.

The European journal of general practice·2026
Same author

The role and utility of artificial intelligence and machine learning for diagnostic prediction in general practice.

The European journal of general practice·2026
Same author

Improving collaborative care networks for functional disorders and persistent somatic symptoms: a participatory action research study in the Netherlands.

BMJ open·2025
Same author

The sustainability of practice-based research networks across the globe - insights from a worldwide qualitative study.

BMC health services research·2025
Same author

Diagnostic Prediction Models for Primary Care, Based on AI and Electronic Health Records: Systematic Review.

JMIR medical informatics·2025

Area of Science:

  • General Practice Research
  • Somatic Symptom Disorders
  • Psychiatry

Background:

  • Longitudinal data on functional somatic symptoms in general practice are scarce.
  • Understanding the characteristics of patients with chronic functional somatic symptoms is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify distinctive features of patients with chronic functional somatic symptoms.
  • To assess if these symptoms support the existence of specific somatic syndromes.

Main Methods:

  • Observational study with a matched control group (182 patients vs. 182 controls).
  • Data collected over 10 years pre-diagnosis, including comorbidity, referrals, diagnostic tests, hospital admissions, medication use, and general practitioner visits.
  • Utilized four primary care practices in the Netherlands.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Patients with chronic functional somatic symptoms showed more symptoms across multiple body systems and higher use of somatic and psychotropic drugs pre-diagnosis.
  • These patients had double the general practitioner visits, significantly higher psychiatric morbidity, and more referrals to mental health and somatic specialists.
  • Diagnostic test utilization was higher in patients, but hospital admission rates were similar to controls.

Conclusions:

  • Chronic functional somatic symptoms present with significant diversity, not clustering into distinct syndromes.
  • Increased medication use, referrals, and psychiatric morbidity are characteristic features preceding diagnosis.
  • The findings advocate against classifying these patients into specific medical subspecialty syndromes.