Page 58 - JCBP-1-2

Journal of Clinical and

Basic Psychosomatics

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
Clinical characteristics of somatization

symptoms of Chinese outpatients in the
Department of Cardiology

Yali Ou , Yanan Zhang , Chao Jin, Liang Ning, Yi Xiao, and Guolong Yu*
†
†
Department of Cardiology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

Abstract

Somatization symptoms are common in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD).
However, it is challenging to improve these symptoms as the cardiologists in general
hospitals, whom these patients sought medical attention from, are imperceptible
to signs of psychological disorders, thereby leading to unnecessarily high medical
costs and failure of improving the symptoms. Therefore, this study aimed to explore
the clinical characteristics and factors that affect somatization symptoms in Chinese
outpatients with CVD, providing results that could benefit the improvement of
diagnosis and intervention of psychological disorders in the future. We conducted
a cross-sectional and observational study in a tertiary general hospital in Hunan,
China, from August 2020 to July 2021. Patient health questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15),
general anxiety disorder-7 (GAD-7), PHQ-9, and a general demographic data
† These authors contributed equally
to this work. questionnaire were used to screen outpatients for suspected psychiatric disorders. Of
the 808 patients in this study, somatization symptoms occurred in 93.1% (752/808)
*Corresponding author:
Guolong Yu of the sample. In patients with somatization symptoms, the mean total score on the
(yuguolong123@aliyun.com) PHQ-15 was 8.54 ± 2.67, and the prevalence of anxiety or depression was 78.7%.
The PHQ-15 symptom items with a positive rate of >50% were sleep disorders, chest
Citation: Ou Y, Zhang Y, Jin C,
et al., 2023, Clinical characteristics pain, headache, dyspnea, palpitation, and dizziness. The severity of somatization
of somatization symptoms of symptoms differed based on gender (P = 0.0341) and past hospitalization history
Chinese outpatients in the (P = 0.023). In addition, there was a correlation between somatization symptoms and
Department of Cardiology. J Clin
Basic Psychosom, 1(2): 0636. scores on the GAD-7 (P = 0.0282) and PHQ-9 scales (P = 0.0011). Linear correlation
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.0636 analysis found that PHQ-15 scores were significantly linked to GAD-7 (r = 0.4787,
Received: April 19, 2023 P < 0.001) and PHQ-9 scores (r = 0.5141, P < 0.001) in patients with somatization
symptoms. Stepwise logistic regression analysis indicated that female gender,
Accepted: August 23, 2023 PHQ-9, and GAD-7 scores could positively predict somatization symptoms. In
Published Online: September 25, conclusion, somatization symptoms are prevalence in Chinese outpatients treated
2023 in the cardiology department. Anxiety, depression, and gender are the main factors
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). affecting somatization symptoms.
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution Keywords: General hospitals; Outpatients; Somatic symptoms; Anxiety; Depression
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience 1. Introduction
Publishing remains neutral with Compared with the general population, patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD)
regard to jurisdictional claims in [1,2]
published maps and institutional have a higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders . Anxiety and depression are the
affiliations. most common types of psychiatric disorders in patients with CVD [1,3] . One recent

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.0636