Factitious disorder imposed on self: A retrospective study of 2232 cases from health insurance databases, 2023, Bérar et al

Objective
Patients with factitious disorder imposed on self (FDIS) seek medical care for deliberately falsified problems. Although a large amount of work has been published, the scientific literature lacks robust data on FDIS. The present study aimed to estimate the annual mean of in-hospital FDIS codings in France, describe the sociodemographic characteristics of subjects with FDIS, assess healthcare utilisation and medical nomadism, and describe the pathologies most frequently associated with FDIS.

Method
Subjects with at least one coding of FDIS in French health insurance databases between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2017 were included. Subjects younger than 18 years of age at the time of first coding were excluded from the study. Sociodemographic data of subjects and diagnoses associated with the first coding of FDIS were collected. Healthcare utilisation and medical nomadism were analysed descriptively from one year before to one year after the first FDIS coding.

Results
2232 subjects were included, representing an average of 248 new in-hospital FDIS codings per year. The subjects included were 58.2% female. The mean age at diagnosis was 48.5 years. In the year following the first coding of FDIS, 1268 subjects (56.8%) were re-hospitalised at least once, including 159 (7.1%) with at least one new coding for FDIS. From one year before to one year after the first coding of FDIS, 66% of the subjects included had received at least one prescription for benzodiazepines, 58.3% for antidepressants, and 42.6% for antipsychotics.

Conclusions
Our findings bring new data working towards a better understanding of FDIS. The consumption of psychotropic drugs is particularly frequent in patients with FDIS.

Paywalled but with 'section snippets' available, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0163834323001652

 

"Results

A total of 2232 subjects were enrolled, an average of 248 patients per year. France had around 55 million inhabitants 18 years and over during our study period [17], resulting in a rate of around 4.5 new in-hospital FDIS codings per million adults per year."

So, from a societal perspective, not a big problem then.

Another paper from the same author, A descriptive, retrospective case series of patients with factitious disorder imposed on self, 2021, Berar et al

 

I've never heard of FD with the IS added. When did that become a thing?

 

Don't kids do this all the time to get out of taking tests?