Somatization symptoms and hypochondriacal features in the general population

Objective: The principal goal of this study is to examine the base rates of somatoform. symptoms and of hypochondriacal features in the general popula tion. Methods: A representative sample of 2050 persons in Germany was exami ned by use of screening for somatoform symptoms and the Whiteley Index. Res ults: The most frequent somatoform symptoms were back pain, joint pain, pai n in extremities, and headache, as well as abdominal symptoms (bloating or intolerance of several foods) and cardiovascular symptoms (palpitation). Pe ople reported a mean of two somatization symptoms of DSM-IV somatization di sorder (SD) during the prior 2 years. Strong age and medium gender effects were found for most somatoform symptoms, as well as for composite indices. However, the sex ratio suggested in DSM-IV for SD seems to be an overestima tion. Hypochondriacal features showed only small sex differences but, again , pronounced age effects. In contrast to low rates for SD, the base rates f or somatization and hypochondriacal features were high and represented the health care relevance of subthreshold syndromes. Conclusion: We present bas e rates of hypochondriacal and somatization features that may be important facets in the development of classification criteria and in the interpretat ion of health care expenditure.