Non-specific Health complaints and self-rated health in pre-adolescents; impact on primary health care use

Dorte Rytter,Bodil Hammer Bech,Charlotte Ulrikka Rask,Claus Høstrup Vestergaard,Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60125-z

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to explore past and future primary health care use in preadolescents reporting frequent non-specific health complaints or a low self-rated health compared to that of preadolescents with no frequent health complaints or with good self-rated health. The study was conducted as a cohort study based within the Danish National Birth Cohort (1996–2002). Information on non-specific health complaints and self-rated health was obtained by an 11-year follow-up questionnaire. Information about number of general practitioner (GP) contacts was obtained from the Health Insurance Service Register. A total of 44,877 pre-adolescents gave complete exposure information. Pre-adolescents who reported frequent non-specific health complaints had a higher use of GP compared to pre-adolescents without complaints across the five years following the index date (somatic complaints: IRR = (1.46 [1.38; 1.55], mental complaints: IRR = 1.16 [1.12; 1.19], both complaints: IRR = 1.58 [1.47; 1.69]). The same pattern was found for the association between low self-rated health and number of GP contacts (IRR = 1.41 (1.36; 1.46)). Non-specific health complaints and a poor self-rated health in pre-adolescents was associated with a higher past and future use of GP, indicating a need for development of early interventions with help for symptom management.

Highlights

The objective of the present study was to explore past and future primary health care use in preadolescents reporting frequent non-specific health complaints or a low self-rated health compared to that of preadolescents with no frequent health complaints or with good self-rated health
Data from the 11-year follow-up was linked to information from the National Health Insurance Service Register (NHISR) using the unique personal identification number assigned to every citizen in Denmark[31]
Children who reported frequent non-specific health complaints tended to have fewer full siblings and more half-siblings and more often to have non-cohabitating parents compared to children who did not report frequent complaints. They were more likely to suffer from concurrent somatic and mental conditions and to have a lower family income and a mother with a lower education. This was evident for children who experienced both frequent mental and somatic complaints (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

The objective of the present study was to explore past and future primary health care use in preadolescents reporting frequent non-specific health complaints or a low self-rated health compared to that of preadolescents with no frequent health complaints or with good self-rated health. Non-specific health complaints and a poor self-rated health in pre-adolescents was associated with a higher past and future use of GP, indicating a need for development of early interventions with help for symptom management. The complaints have consistently been found to be associated with emotional problems such as anxiety and/or depression in cross sectional studies and to have implication for the future health of children with an increased risk of developing both somatic and psychiatric illness in adulthood[7,8,9,10,11,12,13] In both adults and adolescents, multiple non-specific health complaints have been shown to be associated with a lower self-rated health[14,15]. The few existing studies in this area have mainly been cross-sectional[7,25,26,27,28,29]

Objectives

Methods

Results