Somatic symptom profiles are associated with pre-treatment depression and anxiety symptom severity but not inpatient therapy outcomes

Abstract

Objective. Although somatic symptoms are common among mental health patients, their association with symptom severity and inpatient treatment outcomes is not yet well understood. Methods. Using a pre–post design and latent class analysis (LCA), 641 inpatients (63.4% female) were classified based on their self-reported somatic symptoms. We examined how the resulting somatic symptom classes related to depression and anxiety symptom severity pre-treatment (T1) and to symptom reduction post-treatment (T2). Results. Our results suggest four somatic symptom classes, namely (1) unspecific/low somatic symptom burden, (2) sexual problems, (3) gastrointestinal symptoms with pain syndrome, and (4) cardiopulmonary symptoms. While class 1 indicated the lowest pre-treatment depression and anxiety symptom severity, class 2 reported high depressive symptoms coupled with low anxiety, class 3 reported moderate depressive and anxiety symptom severity, and class 4 reported the highest depressive and anxiety symptom burden. Somatic symptom classes, however, did not predict the degree of reduction in either depression or anxiety symptoms post-treatment. Conclusions. These findings demonstrate somatic heterogeneity in mental health patients and reveal the relationship of somatic symptom patterns to affective symptom severity. Clinical implications are discussed.