Geriatric Hypochondriasis: Situational Factors

Abstract

The hypochondriacal attitudes of 53 aged community residents were studied. No significant correlations were found with situational stress, sex, or ethnicity (English-speaking vs Spanish-speaking). The levels of hypochondriasis appeared to be inversely related to self-evaluation of memory ability. There was no indication of an inherent iatrogenic effect. It was concluded that hypochondriacal behavior is chiefly a function of the underlying personality, which may influence the perception of events as stressful.

The syndrome of hypochondriasis: a cross-national study in primary care

“…It is likely that small numbers attenuated this observation at the individual sites as only three (Mainz, Paris and Santiago) showed similar pattern. The literature on age is contradictory with previous authors reporting the disorder to be more common among the young, the old, or to bear no association with age (Brink et al 1981 ;Kellner 1985 ;.…”

“…Our understanding of hypochondriasis has improved considerably in the last two decades. Renewed scientific interests have led to reports on its prevalence, association with age, gender, social position, ethnicity and with other psychiatric disorders, in particular depression and anxiety disorders (Pilowsky, 1970 ;Kenyon, 1976 ;Sternback et al 1978 ;Brink et al 1981 ;Bearber & Rodney, 1984 ;Kellner, 1985 ;Swartz et al 1989 ;Noyes et al 1994). A recent report examined the validity of the DSM-III-R construct of the disorder in the diagnostic screening clinic of a tertiary-care medical centre (Noyes et al 1993).…”

Hypochondriacal psychoses: A long‐term follow‐up

“…The hypothesis that geriatric hypochondriasis is secondary to organic brain damage has also been put forward (12). The results from different studies concerning this issue have been conflicting (13)(14). However, Ladee in his extensive study on hypochondriacal syndromes (cases with somatic delusions were also included), described some cases where somatic factors were judged as a n essential condition for the development of the hypochondriacal syndrome, some of whom were cerebral-organic and others somatic-non-cerebral-organic or somatic-cerebral-organic clinical pictures (1, p. 130).…”

Clinical study of illness anxiety disorder in medical outpatients

“…According to Noyes Jr et al, the mean age at onset of hypochondriasis is 36.9 years, [12] but other studies have assessed it as more common in the third and fourth decade. [6,10,11,[13][14][15][16][17][18] Various sociodemographic factors were comparable in both groups (the group with and without IAD), such as education, occupation, religion, family type and locality, but the difference was statistically significant only for sex, marital status and family income. Illness anxiety was more prevalent in separated, divorced and widowed (32%) as compared to those who were not (7%).…”

“…Hypochondriasis is more common in the third and fourth decades of life. [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Taylor et al state that hypochondriasis is common in people who have a family history of hypochondriasis, [19] and according to Noyes et al hypochondriasis is more common in people with a family history of functional syndromes [20]. Somatization in general is more commonly seen among those of lower social position and those less educated, but it is not clear whether these generalizations are applicable to hypochondriasis [5,10,11,21,22].…”