Female gender is the strongest overall predictor of somatization symptoms, while epilepsy is the strongest predictor of somatization in boys.
BALTIMORE—Young patients with epilepsy report symptoms associated with somatization significantly more often than controls do, according to data presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society.
Girls with and without epilepsy reported symptoms of somatization more often than boys did. A statistical analysis that considered girls and boys separately showed that epilepsy was not a significant predictor of reporting symptoms of somatization in girls. However, in boys, epilepsy was the strongest predictor, followed by low family income and living with a single parent.
Somatization can cause educational problems, including absence from school, according to Kristin Å. Alfstad, MD, of the National Centre for Epilepsy at Oslo University Hospital, and colleagues. Dr. Alfstad’s previous research demonstrated that young people with epilepsy had a higher prevalence of psychiatric symptoms and risky behavior than controls. In addition to educational problems, somatization can cause disability and functional impairment, according to the researchers. “Somatization often leads to increased health care utilization, and recognition of such symptoms may help avoid additional disability,” stated Dr. Alfstad.
She and her colleagues examined cross-sectional data based on 19,995 questionnaires that were filled out by students between the ages of 13 and 19. Students responded to the questionnaires during the school day, and the survey had a response rate of 85%.
Students self-reported how often they had had headaches, stomachaches, back pain, and neck and shoulder pain during the previous six months. Responses were considered potential indicators of increased somatization and were separated by frequency into two categories: “almost daily” and “less often.”
About 1.2% of respondents (247 students) reported having or having had epilepsy. Nearly three times as many students with epilepsy reported stomachaches, compared with controls (9.2% versus 2.4%, respectively). In addition, 11.3% of students with epilepsy reported headaches, compared with 4.5% of controls; 13.4% of students with epilepsy reported back pain, compared with 6.2% of controls. Neck and shoulder pain was reported by 17.3% of youth with epilepsy compared with 9.0% of controls.
Girls reported symptoms of somatization more often than boys did. Logistic regression analysis showed that being female was the strongest predictor of reporting symptoms of somatization (odds ratio [OR], 2.5). Low family affluence (OR, 1.7) and epilepsy (OR, 1.5) were the next strongest predictors of somatization in both genders.
—Erik Greb