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Big Five personality traits and medically unexplained symptoms in later life

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

S.D.M. van Dijk ,
D. Hanssen ,
P. Naarding ,
P. Lucassen ,
H. Comijs  and
R. Oude Voshaar
S.D.M. van Dijk*
Affiliation:
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Interdisciplinary Center for Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE), PO box 30.001RB Groningen9700, The Netherlands
D. Hanssen
Affiliation:
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry & Research Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
P. Naarding
Affiliation:
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry & Research Institute for Health Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Department of Old Age Psychiatry, GGNet, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
P. Lucassen
Affiliation:
Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Department of Primary and Community Care, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
H. Comijs
Affiliation:
GGZinGeest & Department Psychiatry, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
R. Oude Voshaar
Affiliation:
University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Interdisciplinary Center for Psychopathology of Emotion regulation (ICPE), PO box 30.001RB Groningen9700, The Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 50 3611312. E-mail address:[email protected](S.D.M. van Dijk).
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Abstract

Background

Personality dysfunction has been postulated as the most clinically salient problem of persons suffering from medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) but empirical studies are scarce. This study aims to compare the personality profile of older patients suffering from MUS with two comparison groups and a control group.

Methods

Ninety-six older patients with MUS were compared with 153 frequent attenders in primary care suffering from medically explained symptoms (MES), 255 patients with a past-month depressive disorder (DSM-IV-TR), and a control group of 125 older persons. The Big Five personality domains (NEO-Five-Factor Inventory) were compared between groups by multiple ANCOVAs adjusted for age, sex, education, partner status and cognitive functioning. Linear regression analyses were applied to examine the association between health anxiety (Whitley Index) and somatization (Brief Symptom Inventory).

Results

The four groups differed with respect to neuroticism (P < 0.001), extraversion (P < 0.001), and agreeableness (P = 0.045). Post hoc analyses, showed that MUS patients compared to controls scored higher on neuroticism and agreeableness, and compared to depressed patients lower on neuroticism and higher on extraversion as well agreeableness. Interestingly, MUS and MES patients had a similar personality profile. Health anxiety and somatization were associated with a higher level of neuroticism and a lower level of extraversion and conscientiousness, irrespective whether the physical symptom was explained or not.

Conclusions

Older patients with MUS have a specific personality profile, comparable to MES patients. Health anxiety and somatization may be better indicators of psychopathology than whether a physical symptom is medically explained or not.

Keywords

Big Five personalityMedically unexplained symptomsSomatoform disorderOlder adultsDepressed elderlyDSM-5
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 38 , October 2016 , pp. 23 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier Masson SAS 2016

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