Screening for Somatoform Disorders in Children and Adolescents

S. Winter^1*, C. Quinn¹, K. Lenz², E. Pfeiffer¹, U. Lehmkuhl¹

¹Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
²Institute of Medical Biometrics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charité-Universitatsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2014.514173                

Abstract

Until now, no German diagnostic instrument existed for somatoform disorders in children and adolescents. Therefore the Screening for Somatoform Disorders in Children and Adolescents (SOMS-CA) was developed based on the SOMS-2 (Screening for Somatoform Disorders 2) (Rief & Hiller, 2008). This study investigates to what extent the SOMS-CA can differentiate significantly between children and adolescents with clinically diagnosed somatoform disorders and a control group and whether the SOMS-CA is superior to the GSCL-C (Giessen Subjective Complaint List for Children) (Braehler, 1992). 30 patients (11 - 17 years) with somatoform disorders and a control group (n = 31) were examined with the SOMS-CA (N = 61). The results from the SOMS-CA in both groups were compared with one another by means of a contingency analysis (chi-square test). The sensitivity and specificity were calculated and an optimal cut-off value was determined (Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC-curve) analysis). A comparison analysis of the ROC-curves of the SOMS-CA and the GSCL-C followed. The sum score of complaints in the patients was significantly higher than that in the control group. The ROC-curve for the SOMS-CA demonstrates its excellent ability to differentiate between the two groups with an AUC (area under the curve) = 0.983 (SE = 0.14; N = 61). The sensitivity was 97.6%, the specificity 96.8%. In comparison to the AUC of the GSCL-C the SOMS-CA shows a much higher result. The SOMS-CA successfully identifies patients with somatoform disorders from a paediatric population and differentiates from healthy test subjects. A comparison to the GSCL-C shows a considerable superiority of the SOMS-CA. Further studies on the validity of the SOMS-CA are necessary.

Keywords

Somatoform Disorders in Children and Adolescents, Diagnostics, SOMS-CA, Sensitivity, Specificity

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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