[Somatoform complaints in the German population].

The study presents the subjective responses of a representative sample of the German population (2050 subjects, aged 14 to 92 years) on the prevalence of somatoform complaints, using the SOMS (Screening for somatoform disorders) developed by Rief et al. (1997). The results show that somatoform disorders are widespread in the German population. The symptoms named most frequently were pains in the back, aching limbs, pains in the arms or legs, headaches, facial pains and sensations of fullness in the stomach. Women named more somatoform complaints than men and elderly suffered more than the young. The higher rate found in East Germany could be accounted for by the responses of the East German women. Of particular economic and political relevance is the health care utilization behaviour of this group of patients. High medical consultation frequencies and increasing drug consumption were found for a significant proportion of all patients with somatoform disorders. In apparent contradiction to these findings is the classification according to DSM-IV and ICD-10, which diagnose somatoform disorders in only 0.2%-0.4% of the population. Such low prevalence can be attributed to the restrictive diagnostic criteria applied by these systems which obscure the real frequency of somatoform syndromes requiring specific treatment.