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Background: Children often present to primary and specialty care clinics with multiple somatic symptoms of nonspecific origin that can be highly distressing and prompt significant health service use. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the eight-item Children's Somatic Symptoms Inventory (CSSI-8) as a brief measure of somatic distress that could be easily integrated into clinical systems. Method: Eight items from the 24-item CSSI were selected based on their representation of multiple bodily systems, association with high base rates, and ability to maximize the separation of the items' Rasch measure scores. The psychometric quality of the eight-item scale was evaluated in 876 pediatric patients with chronic abdominal pain and a nonclinical sample of 954 school children using methods from three psychometric models (the classical test theory, Rasch modeling, and confirmatory factor analysis). Results: The CSSI-8 showed good measurement properties on an extensive array of psychometric criteria, had adequate Rasch person separation reliability for a brief instrument (rsep = 0.74–0.75), and distinguished between clinical and nonclinical youth. Girls in both groups had significantly higher CSSI-8 scores than boys. Norms for the clinical sample are presented. Conclusions: The CSSI-8 is a psychometrically sound measure suitable for use as a brief dimensional assessment of pediatric somatic distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms (MUPS) are physical symptoms without a medical explanation. This study collected data from hospitalized patients presenting MUPS, aiming to draw a clinical and socio-demographic profile of patients with MUPS, to explore psychopathological correlations of Somatic Symptoms Disorder (SSD) diagnosis, and to estimate economic costs related to hospital management for MUPS. The cross-sectional study consisted in the evaluation of data referring to hospitalized patients admitted between 2008 and 2018 in a teaching hospital in Northern Italy. A total of 273 patients presenting MUPS have been hospitalized. The sample showed a prevalence of female, married and employed patients. The most frequent wards involved are Neurology, Internal Medicine and Short Unit Stay. The most common symptoms found are headache, pain, syncope and vertigo. There is no evidence that a history of medical disease is associated with a diagnosis of SSD. A personality disorder diagnosis in patients with MUPS was associated with increased probability of having a diagnosis of SSD. A marginally significant positive association emerged with anxiety disorders, but not with depressive disorder. The overall estimated cost of hospitalization for patients with MUPS is 475′409.73 €. The study provides the investigation of a large number of patients with MUPS and a financial estimate of related hospitalization costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]