Childhood somatoform disorders and its associated stressors

Year: July-September 2016 | Volume: 13 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 62-65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7199/ped.oncall.2016.42

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Childhood Somatoform Disorders and Its Associated Stressors

Ashish Marwah¹, Mukesh Kumar Swami², Mahesh Kumar².
¹Department of Pediatrics, BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana, India,
²Department of Psychiatry, BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat, Haryana, India.

Abstract
Aim: To study the clinical and socio-demographic profile of somatoform disorders and its associated stressors among pediatric population in a rural setting.
Settings and Design: This cross-sectional study was done from Jan 2015 to June 2015 at rural tertiary care teaching hospital.
Methods and Materials: Fifty children presenting with physically unexplained symptoms during the study period were assessed. Complete physical and psychiatric assessment was done and diagnosis was made using DSM -IV TR criteria. Patient Health questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) was used for recording presenting symptoms and severity. Data were analyzed with Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS 17) and association between different variables was determined using Chi-square test.
Results: Male: female ratio was 24:26. Forty-two (84%) of our patients were from rural background. Most common presenting symptom was fainting spells (28%) followed by pain in abdomen (20%). Stressors were elicited in 64% patients and most common stressor was strained interpersonal relations (20%) in family. Females presented with significantly more severe illness (p=0.024).
Conclusions: Psychosocial stressors especially interpersonal relations are important factor which needs to be evaluated while encountering patients with somatoform disorder.

Journal Subscription

Pediatric Oncall Journal

Subscribe Now

This Article

Authors

Ashish Marwah
[Google Scholar] [Pubmed]
Mukesh Kumar Swami
[Google Scholar] [Pubmed]
Mahesh Kumar
[Google Scholar] [Pubmed]

Other

Cite this article as

Marwah A, Swami M K, Kumar M. Childhood Somatoform Disorders and Its Associated Stressors. Pediatr Oncall J. 2016;13: 62-65. doi: 10.7199/ped.oncall.2016.42