Personality traits such as neuroticism and disability predict psychological distress in medically unexplained symptoms: A three-year experience from a single centre.

Abstract

People with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) may have psychological co-morbidities. Our objectives were to assess the rates and identify correlates of psychological distress in MUS. A total of 171 subjects with MUS seeking treatment at a tertiary care facility were assessed over a 3-year period. Psychological distress was assessed using the Tamil version of General Health Questionnaire-12. Apart from socio-demographic factors, personality, coping, perceived social support and subjective disability were assessed using standard instruments. Ninety subjects (52.6%) endorsed symptoms of psychological distress. MUS subjects with psychological distress reported higher levels of neuroticism (p<0.001), lower extraversion (p<0.001), lower perceived social support (p=0.002), higher disability (p<0.001), lower problem focused engagement (p=0.378) and higher emotion focused engagement (p=0.009). In multivariate analysis, high neuroticism scores (odds ratio 1.579, 95% CI 1.108 to 2.251) and high disability (odds ratio 1.302, 95% CI 1.147 to 1.478) emerged as independent predictors of psychological distress in MUS. More than half of subjects with MUS have associated psychological distress. High levels of neuroticism and disability are potential markers of psychological distress in MUS. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.