A new questionnaire to identify bodily distress in primary care: The ‘BDS checklist’
2015/03/18 by Anna Budtz-Lilly, Per Fink, Eva Ørnbøl +4 · 130 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · #Checklist #Clinical psychology #Distress #Family medicine #Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research #Health, psychology, and well-being #Medicine #Primary care #Psychology #Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
paper · open access · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2015.03.006
published in Journal of Psychosomatic Research 78(6), 536-545 (Elsevier BV)
openalex publication_date 2015/03/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Functional symptoms and disorders are common in primary care. Bodily distress syndrome (BDS) is a newly proposed clinical diagnosis for functional disorders. The BDS diagnosis is based on empirical research, and the symptoms stated in the BDS criteria have been translated into a self-report questionnaire called the BDS checklist. The aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the checklist and to test the construct of BDS. METHOD: The 30-item BDS checklist was completed by 2480 adult primary care patients in a cross-sectional study on contact and disease patterns in Danish general practice. We performed (internal) validation analyses of the collected checklist data. We also performed factor and latent class analyses to identify both BDS symptom groups and BDS patient groups. RESULTS: Internal validation analyses revealed acceptable and usable psychometric properties of the BDS checklist. The factor analyses identified the four distinct determining factors for BDS: cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal and general symptoms. Results from factor and multi-trait analyses suggested a shortening of the BDS checklist (from 30 to 25 items). The latent class analyses resulted in three severity levels (no, moderate and severe BDS); the best fit index was found for a threshold of ≥4 symptoms in a symptom group. CONCLUSION: The results provide empirical support for the previously described construct of BDS with four symptom groups and three patient groups. The BDS checklist is a self-report instrument that may be used for case finding in both clinical practice and in research.
Cited by
- Acute symptoms and subsequent post-acute symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination: A Danish population-based study
- Post-acute non-specific symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination: a Danish population-based study
- Psychological and behavioral correlates of health anxiety and other anxiety phenomena in adolescence—A cross‐sectional study in the Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000
- E-Health Intervention for Fear of Cancer Recurrence
- Bodily distress syndrome: A new diagnosis for functional disorders in primary care? [europepmc]
- Multiple somatic symptoms in primary care patients: a cross-sectional study of consultation content, clinical management strategy and burden of encounter. [europepmc]
- Comparing group-based acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) with enhanced usual care for adolescents with functional somatic syndromes: a study protocol for a randomised trial. [europepmc]
- Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Screening for Somatic Symptom Disorders-7(SOMS-7). [europepmc]
- Statistical complexity of reasons for encounter in high users of out of hours primary care: analysis of a national service. [europepmc]
- Irritable bowel, chronic widespread pain, chronic fatigue and related syndromes are prevalent and highly overlapping in the general population: DanFunD. [europepmc]
- Study protocol: a randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of therapist guided internet-delivered cognitive therapy (TG-iConquerFear) with augmented treatment as usual in reducing fear of cancer recurrence in Danish colorectal cancer survivors. [europepmc]
- Feasibility of group-based acceptance and commitment therapy for adolescents (AHEAD) with multiple functional somatic syndromes: a pilot study. [europepmc]
- The BDS checklist as measure of illness severity: a cross-sectional cohort study in the Danish general population, primary care and specialised setting. [europepmc]
- Development of an eHealth programme for self-management of persistent physical symptoms: a qualitative study on user needs in general practice. [europepmc]
- Conditioned pain modulation and pain sensitivity in functional somatic disorders: The DanFunD study. [europepmc]
- Validity and utility of Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): III. Emotional dysfunction superspectrum. [europepmc]
- The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study-VIA 15 - A Study Protocol for the Third Clinical Assessment of a Cohort of 522 Children Born to Parents Diagnosed With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder and Population-Based Controls. [europepmc]
- Association between infections and functional somatic disorders: a cross-sectional population-based cohort study. [europepmc]
- Characteristics of a Danish Post-COVID Cohort Referred for Examination due to Persistent Symptoms Six Months after Mild Acute COVID-19. [europepmc]
- Designing and Developing an eHealth Program for Patients With Persistent Physical Symptoms: Usability Study. [europepmc]
- Symptom Perceptions in Functional Disorders, Major Health Conditions, and Healthy Controls: A General Population Study. [europepmc]
- High Perceived Stress and Low Self-Efficacy are Associated with Functional Somatic Disorders: The DanFunD Study. [europepmc]
- Group-based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (AHEAD) for adolescents with multiple functional somatic syndromes: A randomised trial. [europepmc]
- Serum calcitonin gene-related peptide in patients with persistent post-concussion symptoms, including headache: a cohort study. [europepmc]
- Is reduced heart rate variability associated with functional somatic disorders? A cross-sectional population-based study; DanFunD. [europepmc]
- Aetiological Understanding of Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Classificatory Analogues: A Systematic Umbrella Review. [europepmc]
- Missingness mechanisms and generalizability of patient reported outcome measures in colorectal cancer survivors - assessing the reasonableness of the "missing completely at random" assumption. [europepmc]
- Exploring the course of functional somatic symptoms (FSS) from pre- to late adolescence and associated internalizing psychopathology - an observational cohort-study. [europepmc]
- Empirical assessment of functional somatic disorder (FSD): frequency, applicability, and diagnostic refinement in a population-based sample. [europepmc]
Related