Intelligence is negatively associated with the number of functional somatic symptoms

Eva M Kingma (1) , Lineke M Tak (1) , Martijn Huisman (1) , Judith G M Rosmalen (1)

1 Interdisciplinary Center for Psychiatric Epidemiology, University Medical Center Groningen

Functional somatic symptoms (FSS), symptoms that cannot be conclusively explained by organic pathology, have a poorly understood aetiology. Our aim is to study intelligence as a risk factor for FSS. We hypothesize that intelligence is negatively associated with the number of FSS. To investigate the specific role of intelligence in FSS as opposed to medically explained symptoms (MES), we compared associations of intelligence with FSS with those of intelligence with MES. We hypothesize that lifestyle factors and socioeconomic factors mediate the relation between intelligence and both FSS and MES, whereas psychological distress is especially important for FSS.

Mots clés: LONGITUDINAL STUDIES; PSYCHOLOG DISTRESS; PSYCHOSOMATIC DI; functional somatic symptoms; general population; intelligence; longitudinal; somatization

Eva M Kingma, Lineke M Tak, Martijn Huisman, Judith G M Rosmalen. Intelligence is negatively associated with the number of functional somatic symptoms. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2009, 63 (11), pp.900-n/a. ⟨10.1136/jech.2008.081638⟩. ⟨hal-00477881⟩