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European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 2/2017

01-02-2017 | Original Contribution

Health anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents diagnosed with OCD

Authors: Anna Villadsen, Mette V. Thorgaard, Katja A. Hybel, Jens Søndergaard Jensen, Per H. Thomsen, Charlotte U. Rask

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 2/2017

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Abstract

Health anxiety (HA) is an overlooked area in paediatric research. Little is known about the occurrence of HA symptoms in a child and adolescent psychiatric setting, and there are no age-appropriate diagnostic criteria and only limited number of assessment tools. It is therefore likely that HA is seen as part of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) due to construct overlap and the diagnostic uncertainty of HA in this age group. In the present study, the extent of HA symptoms was investigated in 94 children and adolescents with a primary ICD-10 diagnosis of OCD. Self-reported HA symptoms were assessed using the Childhood Illness Attitude Scales. Clinician-rated OCD symptoms and severity were measured using the Children’s Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. Information on socio-demographics was obtained from the child’s/adolescent’s medical record. The distribution of HA symptoms resembled a normal curve shifted to the right compared with a normal population of Danish children, and 30 % presented with high HA symptoms. Chi-squared tests were used to examine the proportion of children and adolescents with high HA symptoms in relation to various clinical characteristics. Clinician-rated illness worries and comorbid anxiety disorder were associated with high self-reported HA symptoms. The results contribute to the understanding of how HA and OCD overlap conceptually in young patients and bring attention to the need for improved recognition of OCD patients dominated by illness worries. Further research in the description of childhood HA is important in order to understand whether HA is a distinct disorder early in life.
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Metadata
Title
Health anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents diagnosed with OCD
Authors
Anna Villadsen
Mette V. Thorgaard
Katja A. Hybel
Jens Søndergaard Jensen
Per H. Thomsen
Charlotte U. Rask
Publication date
01-02-2017
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 2/2017
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0884-8

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