Somatic symptom and related disorders in a tertiary paediatric hospital: prevalence, reach and complexity

Abstract

Specialist paediatric services manage a variety of presentations of functional somatic symptoms. We aimed to describe the presentation and management of children and adolescents with somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRDs) requiring admission to a tertiary children-s hospital with the objective of informing the development of a local clinical pathway. Patients admitted to any hospital department from May 2016 to November 2017 were identified through an electronic medical record (EMR)-linked diagnosis of SSRD. Each record was reviewed for demographic details and admission histories. The frequency of interspecialty consultations and multidisciplinary team (MDT) family meetings were recor..