0000000000075202
AUTHOR
Dirk Frieser
Classification characteristics of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 for screening somatoform disorders in a primary care setting
Abstract Background This study examines how effectively the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15), a self-administered screening instrument, recognizes somatoform symptoms and somatoform disorders in a German primary care setting. Methods A selected sample of 308 patients (mean age 47.2 years, 71.4% women) from two regular primary care practices was screened with the PHQ-15 and additionally examined with structured interviews. Their primary care physicians rated symptoms reported in the interview as either “medically explained” or “medically unexplained.” Results Seventy-six percent of the symptoms were judged as medically unexplained. The PHQ-15 correlated significantly with the total n…
The prevalence of medically unexplained symptoms in primary care.
Objective There is only a small number of studies dealing with the prevalence of medically unexplained symptoms and somatoform disorder in German primary care practices. Therefore, we aimed to study the prevalence of medically unexplained symptoms and the prevalences and comorbidities of somatoform and other mental disorders. Method In the initial stage of a two-stage prevalence study, 620 consecutive patients were first screened with a PHQ-15 questionnaire. In the second stage, 308 selected persons were then interviewed in detail. Results Medically unexplained symptoms made up two-thirds of all reported symptoms with women, younger persons, and non-native speakers having the highest rates.…