Material and methods this research was a cross sectional study. Participants were also asked to indicate their level of agreement with. Hypochondriasis is a relatively prevalent disorder in primary care, with prevalence estimates of between 3% and 6. When the whiteley index was used to distinguish between hypochondriacal and nonhypochondriacal patients, as identified by a struc. The primary analysis assessed outcome at week 24 among the intenttotreat sample, with responders defined as having a 25% or greater improvement over baseline on both the whiteley index and a modified version of the yalebrown obsessive compulsive scale for hypochondriasis hybocsm.
It has been claimed that this debilitating condition results from an inaccurate perception of the condition of body or mind despite the absence of an actual medical diagnosis. Development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis article pdf available in psychological medicine 325. Hypochondriasis is a mental disorder characterized by belief in having a serious illness and thinking anxiously about it 1. Predictors of course and outcome in hypochondriasis after. We investigated participants of a german population.
Assessment of hypochondriasis in an australian sample of primary care patients the whiteley index wi is. Symptoms of hypochondriasis 4point likert scale version of the whiteley index. The whiteley index is a 14item selfreport questionnaire with scores ranging from 0 almost never to 4 almost always. Moreover, factorial investigations of the wi persist in the original truefalse response format despite criticisms of. Hypochondriasis or hypochondria is a condition in which a person is excessively and unduly worried about having a serious illness. The ibq also has an index whiteley index, wi composed of 14 items that assess hypochondriacal attitudes. The confusion over the definition and nosological status of hypochondriasis has been stressed by many authors.
A doublemasked, placebocontrolled study of fluoxetine. Screening for hypochondriasis with the illness attitude scales. Methods one hundred sixtytwo patients attending a general medicine clinic were interviewed and asked to complete selfreport measures. Kings college london health anxiety questionnaires.
Inventory hai, the illness attitude scales ias and the whiteley index wi. As expected, hypochondriasis patients had a significantly higher degree of hypochondria than both ocd patients and controls. Lower levels of illness anxiety fewer sustained diagnoses of hypochondriasis 50% vs 76% mcmanus et al. Pdf psychometric properties of the persian version of. A cutoff score of 3 was recommended for screening hypochondriasis 24. Whiteley index of hypochondriasis this 14item questionnaire evaluates health anxiety hypochondriacal attitudes and beliefs. General hypochondriasis gh, disease conviction dc, psychological versus somatic focusing ps, affective inhibition ai, affective disturbance ad, denial d and irritability i. Persian version of 14item whiteley index can be used as a reliable and valid instrument for assessing health anexity among iranian young population. The present study tests the mediating role of hypochondriasis to explain the relation between anxiety sensitivity and panic symptomatology. Other questionnaires specific to hypochondriasis include the illness. Data of the eq5d descriptive system, the british and the german eq5d index and the eq visual analogue scale, the patient health questionnaire 15, the patient health questionnaire 9, the whiteley. Prior research has supported a sixitem short form of the whiteley index w. Cadat is a leader in both research and clinical treatment of anxiety disorders in the uk.
Among our sample, the whiteley internal consistency. British journal of psychiatry, 1, 8993 is a widely used selfreport measure of health anxiety, hypochondriasis, and illness phobia. Patients calling from elsewhere were screened over the telephone using the diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis. Are premenstrual symptoms associated with health anxiety. Assessment of hypochondriasis in an australian sample of primary care patients the whiteley index wi is a widely used instrument for. Symptoms of hypochondriasis in obsessivecompulsive. These scales measure perceptions of illness, diagnostic symptoms, and awareness of internal sensations. The whiteley index wi is a widely used instrument for measuring hypochondriacal worries and beliefs. Here, the whiteley index wi was administered to 17 patients with dsmiiir hypochondriasis, 21 with dsmiiir. Somatic symptoms, hypochondriasis and psychological. Iad is an overwhelming fear that you have a serious disease or lifethreatening illness even though health care providers confirm to you that you have only mild symptoms or no symptoms at all.
Other questionnaires specific to hypochondriasis include the illness behaviour questionnaire, illness attitude scales, whiteley index, and somatosensory amplifi cation scale sas. An old concept, the meaning of hypochondria has repeatedly changed. Objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of the persian version of 14item whiteley index. Validity and responsiveness of the eq5d in assessing and. Paul peterson, licensed therapist statistics on hypochondriasis. Even at subclinical levels of severity, hypochondriacal worries significantly increase health care utilization at the level of primary care services, associated pathology testing, and secondary care. The boundary between hypochondriasis and obsessive. Instruments included the whiteley index of hypochon driasis, somatic symptom inventory, relationship scales questionnaire, inventory of. Dimensions of hypochondriasis the british journal of. As with all tests the result must be interpreted cautiously. Hypochondriasis, or hypochondria, is also referred to as illness anxiety disorder iad.
Medical outpatients meeting dsm diagnostic criteria for hypochondriasis completed an extensive research battery assessing. Background although hypochondriasis is generally thought to be a chronic and stable condition with a relatively low remission rate, this disorder remains understudied methods this is a 4 to 5year prospective casecontrol study of dsmiiir hypochondriasis. A prospective 4 to 5year study of dsmiiir hypochondriasis. Optimal cutoff points on the health anxiety inventory. Operationalization of diagnostic criteria of dsm5 somatic. Behaviour questionnaire, illness attitude scales, whiteley index, and. Whiteley index is a widely used test to assess hypochondria.
Therefore, early diagnosis of it with a valid instrument is very important. A high score is an indication that you could profit from talking this over with your doctor. Several studies explored the structural validity of the wi obtaining contrary results concerning the number of factors as well as the item composition. Cognitive behavior therapy and paroxetine in the treatment. Screening for hypochondriasis with the illness attitude. The subject sample consisted of 1996 persons of the general german population. Three of the most reliable and used selfreport measures of health anxiety are the health anxiety inventory hai, the illness attitude scales ias and the whiteley index wi.
Background health anexity affects the doctorpatient relationship and also causes unnecessary further procedures. Test of an interpersonal model of hypochondriasis citeseerx. Health anxiety 11 items and illness behavior 6 items. A randomized controlled trial of medication and cognitive. The scale has good internal consistency and testretest reliability. Iad can also make people misinterpret normal body sensations as signs of a serious illness. Somatosensory amplification in hypochondriasis and panic. The economic effects of hypochondriasis are tremendous. The hic severity is a clinicianadministered instrument focusing on the patients most intense.
The chinese wi7 has proven to have satisfactory reliability and validity in a general hong kong population 23. Correlates of worry and functional somatic symptoms in. We expected the ias subscales to be equally as effective as the 7item short version of the whiteley index whiteley 7. Fiftyseven outpatients with clinically significant levels of panic symptomatology were selected to participate in the study. Optimal cutoff points on the health anxiety inventory, illness. The sevenitem version of the whiteley index whiteley7, which measures hypochondriasis health anxiety, fears of illness and the tendency to make somatic attributions. Furthermore, unpublished observations also found that the hypochondriasis prevalence rate in ocd patients was not significantly different from that of controls fallon et al. A study was conducted in order to test psychometric properties of the questionnaire and to obtain norms. Possible scores range from 14 70, with higher scores indicating more hypochondriacal concerns. The prevalence of hypochondriasis in the united states in the primary care industry. This is the first study to validate the eq5d in patients with somatoform disorders.
Hypochondriasis showed a nearly linear increase with increasing age r. Instruments included the whiteley index of hypochondriasis, somatic symptom inventory, relationship scales questionnaire, inventory of interpersonal problems, neo fivefactor index, and. The whiteley index is a wellvalidated measure of hypochondriasis. Kellner, 1986, 1987 may prove highly useful for the screening of hypochondriasis. Jelliffe 1931 refers to it as a strange child in the psychopathological family, and macalpine 1953 uses the phrase a stepchild in psychiatry proper.
The cutoff score for health anxiety disorder or hypochondriasis is. The eq5d is a generic questionnaire providing a preferencebased index score applicable to costutility analysis. To address this deficiency, we administered a fear of death scale along with measures of hypochondriasis, including the whiteley index and somatic symptom inventory, to 162 general medical outpatients. The prevalence of hypochondriasis, in various studies, has been reported. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Illness anxiety disorder, also known as hypochondria or hypochondriasis, is a psychiatric condition in which a person is preoccupied with having or developing a serious medical illness. Defining patients with clinical hypochondriasis of the 324 patients originally selected, 59 were found to meet the dsmiv criteria of current hypochondriacal disorder. We expected the ias subscales to be equally as effective as the 7item short version of the whiteley index whiteley7. Illness behavior questionnaire ibq includes seven scales that evaluate abnormal illness behavior, which pilowsky defined as the persistence of an inappropriate or maladaptive mode of perceiving, evaluating or acting in relation to ones own state of health despite the fact that a doctor has provided a lucid and accurate appraisal of the situation and management to be followed. Psychometric properties of the persian version of whiteley. An examination of measurement invariance among selfidentifying black, latino, and white respondents in primary care thomas a. The 7item whiteley index wi7 was used to evaluate illness anxiety. Factor structure analysis, validity and reliability of the health.
Data sources include ibm watson micromedex updated 4 may 2020, cerner multum updated 4 may 2020. Although fear of death has been linked to hypochondriasis, the relationship of this fear to the disorder has received little study. Psychometric properties of the persian version of whiteley index. The whiteleyindex is an instrument to assess hypochondriasis. Background health anxiety can be viewed as a dimensional phenomenon where severe health anxiety in form of dsmiv hypochondriasis represents a cutoff where the health anxiety becomes clinically significant. Pilowsky, 1967, the somatosensory amplification scale. Another 44 patients had high pretreatment scores on two hypochondriasis scales, the illness attitude scales ias and the whiteley index wi. The whiteley index is a wellvalidated selfreport measure of hypochondriasis severity that is the most widely used measure of hypochondriasis in the published literature. Instruments included the whiteley index of hypochondriasis, somatic symptom inventory, relationship scales questionnaire, inventory of interpersonal problems, neo fivefactor index, and measures of physicianpatient interaction.
387 1429 673 367 1295 196 1466 1328 659 210 939 236 1018 971 1265 394 1019 927 1412 27 786 802 342 734 602 638 425 884 1030 1467 1258 1239 268 488 357 952 578 1191 133 1228 1050 1033