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Covariation of physical and mental symptoms across illnesses: Results of a factor analytic study

  • Empirical Articles
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Objective: Chronic illnesses are associated with reports of symptoms, problems, and dysfunction along multiple dimensions. To determine if the dimensionality is disease-specific and whether physical and emotional symptoms are concomitant and inseparable aspects of the illness experience, we present a factor analysis of symptom and problem reports from five different chronic conditions. Method: People with five different conditions participated in this study: multiple sclerosis (MS) (n=263), non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (n=420), nonhead nonneck injury trauma (n=852), and a group of terminal patients comprised of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (n=99) and cancer (n=74) patients. Participants were asked to complete the Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB) and symptom items from the QWB were factor analyzed. Results: Both within each condition and across conditions, two factors accounted for the majority of the explained variance and could be described as an Observable Limitations factor and a Subjective Symptoms factor. Conclusions: Our factor analyses suggest that physical and emotional symptoms covary and are common to different types of illness.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Frontier Science & Technology Research Foundation, Inc., 1244 Boylston Street, Suite 303, 02467, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Carolyn E. Schwartz Sc.D.

  2. Harvard Medical School, USA

    Carolyn E. Schwartz Sc.D.

  3. University of California, San Diego

    Robert M. Kaplan Ph.D., John P. Anderson Ph.D. & Troy Holbrook Ph.D.

  4. Boston College, Boston, USA

    M. Wilson Genderson M.A.

Authors
  1. Carolyn E. Schwartz Sc.D.
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  2. Robert M. Kaplan Ph.D.
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  3. John P. Anderson Ph.D.
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  4. Troy Holbrook Ph.D.
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  5. M. Wilson Genderson M.A.
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Additional information

Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by grants from the Agency for Health Care Policy & Research (1 RO1 HSO8582-01A1) and from Berlex Laboratories to Dr. Carolyn Schwartz; by grants from the Agency for Health Care Policy & Research (R18 HSO5617 and R1806912) to Dr. Larry Schneiderman, M.D., and an American Cancer Society Scholars Grant to Robert Kaplan, Ph.D.

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Schwartz, C.E., Kaplan, R.M., Anderson, J.P. et al. Covariation of physical and mental symptoms across illnesses: Results of a factor analytic study. ann. behav. med. 21, 122–127 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02908292

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