Prevalence and strong association of high somatic symptom severity with depression and anxiety in a Chinese inpatient population

Background The prevalence of the high somatic symptom severity (HSSS) and its associations with sociodemographic factors, depression, and anxiety has not been surveyed in inpatient populations at general hospitals. Methods A sample including 1329 inpatients in a Chinese general hospital was surveyed using Chinese version of 15‐item patient health questionnaire (PHQ‐15), 9‐item patient health questionnaire, and generalized anxiety disorder 7‐item scale. Results A total of 27.8% (n = 369) of the participants had HSSS (PHQ‐15 ≥ 10). The multivariate regression showed that HSSS was significantly associated with depression (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 5.219), anxiety (aOR, 5.810), or depression or anxiety (aOR, 5.338) but neither with sex, age, marital status, education status, household income, nor 7 kinds of physical disease systems. Discussion The symptom profile and high prevalence of HSSS, and its association with clinically significant depression and anxiety in this inpatient population were mostly consistent to that documented by studies in other populations.