Somatic symptoms as measured by SSI-26 (Somatic Symptom Inventory) correlate with social and physical functioning (SF36) in depressed patients. The relative contribution of anhedonia

Abstract

According to the DSM5, Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) is characterized by somatic symptoms that are either very distressing or result in significant disruption of functioning. These criteria are significantly different compared with previous editions of DSM. For example, the DSM-IV diagnosis of somatization disorder required a specific number of complaints from among four symptom groups, however the SSD criteria no longer have such a requirement. Nevertheless somatic symptoms must be significantly distressing or disruptive to daily life. Very few studies have focussed on the influence of suffering anhedonia on the perception of somatic symptoms and how this impact on Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), particularly physical functioning. We studied the relative impact of somatic symptoms on the social and physical functioning in depressed patients. Moreover we have explored the influence of anhedonia as measured by the Snaith-Hamilton Anhedonia Pleasure Scale (SHAPS). We analysed the correlations between the scores of the 8 dimensions of the SF-36, the SSI-26 and the SHAPS questionnaires. The results show a significant correlation between SSI-26 score and physical functioning (r = –0.565; P < 0.001), role physical (r = –0.551; P < 0.001), bodily pain (r = –0.659; P < 0.001), general health (r = –0.534; P < 0.001), vitality (r = –0.481; P = 0.001), social functioning (r = –0.302; P = 0.044) and mental health (r = –0.461; P = 0.001). Additionally, SHAPS score correlates with vitality (r = –0.371; P = 0.012), social functioning (r = –0.574; P < 0.001) and mental health (r = –0.445; P = 0.002). The results demonstrated that both somatic symptoms and level of anhedonia negatively correlate with HRQoL, suggesting a potential relationship between level of anhedonia and some somatic symptoms. This could impact on the diagnosis and treatment of depressed patients with somatic symptoms and anhedonia.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.