Prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms in children

Somatic symptoms reflecting psychic components were recorded in connection with the Finnish National Epidemiological Study of Psychiatric Disorders. In the present work, according to the parents' concerns, frequent headache was found in 2.8%, recurrent abdominal pain in 2.4%, asthma in 0.7%, enuresis in 1.5% and soiling in 0.3% of the children. Children complaining frequently of different pains were reported in 1.0% by the teachers. Distribution by sex, population density areas and family structure are also given.