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Somatic symptom disorder should be suspected in children with alleged chronic Lyme disease

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Abstract

We report a case series of seven children admitted to a tertiary level pediatric ward for long-lasting physical symptoms with a previous diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease. In these children, medical history and clinical features were strongly suggestive of a psychopathological disorder, mainly a somatic symptom disorder.

What is Known:

• There is an increasing number of diagnoses of chronic Lyme disease both in North America and in Europe. Adults receive this diagnosis to explain chronic physical complaints often with negative history and serology.

What is New:

• Somatic symptom disorder should be suspected in children and adolescents with non-specific symptoms diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease.

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Abbreviations

CLD:

Chronic Lyme disease

SSD:

Somatic symptom disorder

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Trieste, Piazzale Europa, 1, Via dell’Istria, 34127, Trieste, TS, Italy

    Francesca Peri, Daniela Nisticò, Alessandro Occhipinti, Alessandro Ventura, Egidio Barbi & Giorgio Cozzi

  2. Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Via dell’Istria, 65, 34137, Trieste, TS, Italy

    Giuliana Morabito, Egidio Barbi & Giorgio Cozzi

Authors
  1. Francesca Peri
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  2. Daniela Nisticò
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  3. Giuliana Morabito
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  4. Alessandro Occhipinti
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  5. Alessandro Ventura
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  6. Egidio Barbi
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  7. Giorgio Cozzi
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Contributions

F.P., D.N. and G.C. had primary responsibility for writing the manuscript.

F.P., D.N., A.V., G.M. and A.O. were responsible for data collection.

E.B. has supervised and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francesca Peri.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Nicole Ritz

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Cite this article

Peri, F., Nisticò, D., Morabito, G. et al. Somatic symptom disorder should be suspected in children with alleged chronic Lyme disease. Eur J Pediatr 178, 1297–1300 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03416-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-019-03416-6

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