Examine the public health impacts of functional somatic disorders using the DanFunD study 2022 Jørgensen, Fink et al

Abstract

Background: Persistent physical symptoms (e.g. pain, fatigue) are prevalent in the population and some persons may develop a functional somatic disorder (FSD). We still need to explore the limits between general bodily sensations and FSD, and great controversies exist as regard delimitation, occurrence, risk factors, prognosis, and costs of FSD in the general population. This is mainly due to the lack of focused, sufficient powered, population-based epidemiological studies.

Material and Methods: The DanFunD study is the largest focused population-based study on FSD and has the potential to answer these crucial questions regarding the FSD disorders. DanFunD has its origin in the Copenhagen area of Denmark and was initiated in 2009 by an interdisciplinary team of researchers including basic scientists, clinical researchers, epidemiologists, and public health researchers. A population-based cohort of nearly 10,000 people have filled in detailed questionnaires, gone through a thorough health examination, and a biobank is established. The cohort was re-examined after five years.

Results:The prevalence of FSD in the Danish population is about 10-15% and is twice as common in women as in men. Persons with FSD report impaired daily activities and low self-perceived health, which qualifies FSD as a major public health problem. The research plan to unravel the risk factors for FSD employs a bio-psycho-social approach according to a detailed plan. Preliminary results are presented, and work is in progress. Likewise, plans for assessing prognosis and health care costs are provided.

Conclusion: We invite researchers in the field to collaborate on this unique data material.

Open access, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14034948221122886

 

"During decades numerous specialty-specific delimitations of functional somatic disorder (FSD) have been proposed, and it seems as if every medical specialty has their own delimitation. For example, gastroenterology has irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), rheumatology has fibromyalgia or chronic widespread pain and infection medicine has chronic fatigue syndrome. The general picture is confusing, as the applied delimitations have changed over time, show a substantial overlap and often are based on consensus report instead of thorough scientific analyses."

"Cases with FSD were identified with symptom lists from questionnaires, where only bothersome symptoms were included [10]. We used five specialty-specific delimitations, the BDS concept and a new classification based on latent class analyses, dividing participants according to different symptom profiles. Due to many different delimitations of the specialty-specific delimitations we refrained from using the word syndrome. Irritable bowel (IB) was defined according to the definition by Kay and Jørgensen; chronic widespread pain was based on the American College of rheumatology criteria; chronic fatigue was defined according to the definition by Chalder et al.;"

The reference for the definition that they are referring to ultimately leads to https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/002239999390081P, a paper by Chalder, Wessely et al from 1993. It's paywalled but I wonder if it is the Chalder Fatigue Scale.