Objective To investigate the clinical features and influencing factors of
somatic symptoms in
patients with
acute stroke.
Methods Patients with
acute stroke were enrolled in the study.Using the scores of symptom
checklist 90 (SCL-90)-somatization factor part,the
patients were divided into either a
somatic symptom group (≥24) or a
control group (<24).Their age,
gender,economic level,
education level,underlying
diseases,Hamilton
Anxiety Scale (HAMA),Hamilton
Depression Scale (HAMD),NEO Five-Factor
Inventory scores,
Social Support Rating Scale scores-simplified
Chinese version,Mini-Mental StateExamination (MMSE) scores,National Institute of
Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores were documented and analyzed.Results A total of 70
patients with
acute stroke were enrolled,and 33 (47.1%) of them had
somatic symptoms.There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics,
education level,
family income,
occupation,
marital status,
living alone,residence,medical expenses payment
methods and
social support scores between the
somatic symptom group and the
control group.There were also no significant differences in the types of
stroke,lesion side,baseline NIHSS score,MMSE score,and NEO Five-Factor
Inventory score between the 2 groups.There was significant difference in lesion side between the
somatic symptom group and the
control group (x2 =0.161,P=0.006).The comparison of
neuropsychological test results showed that the proportion of
patients with an
anxiety state of the
somatic symptom group was significantly higher than that of the
control group (24.2% vs.5.4%;x2 =5.055,P =0.025),but there was no significant difference in the proportion of
patients with
depression status;after excluding the cases
who met the
anxiety and
depression criteria,HAMA (8.08 ± 3.12 vs.5.58 ± 3.06;t =-3.059,P =0.003) and HAMD (10.80 ± 4.81 vs.7.73 ± 3.88;t =-2.694,P =0.009) scores of the
somatic symptom group (n =25) were significantly higher than those of the
control group (n =33).The number of
somatic symptoms of the
somatic symptom group was significantly more than that of the
control group (Z =-5.817,P < 0.001),and was more likely to have
pain symptoms (97.0% vs.73.0%;x2 =7.584,P =0.006).The correlation
analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation in the 12-item scores of the SCL-90 somatic factors and HAMA (r =0.494,P <0.001) and HAMD (r=0.369,P=0.002) scores in
patients.Multivariate
logistic regression analysis showed that HAMA score was an independent
risk factor for
somatic symptoms after
stroke.(
odds ratio 1.286,95%
confidence interval 1.060-1.560;P=0.011).Conclusions The
incidence of
somatic symptoms is high after
acute stroke,especially in
patients with cortical
stroke.The somatic
patients after
stroke are prone to have
pain-related symptoms.The
patients with
anxiety and
depression status after
stroke are prone to have
somatic symptoms after
stroke;HAMA score is an independent
risk factor for having
somatic symptoms after
stroke.