COVID-19-Related Anxiety Predicts Somatic Symptoms in the UK Population

M Shevlin; Emma Nolan; Marcin Owczarek; Orla McBride; Jamie Murphy; Jilly Gibson Miller; Todd K Hartman; Liat Levita; Liam  Mason; Anton P Martinez; Ryan McKay; Thomas VA Stocks; Kate M Bennett; Philip Hyland; Richard P. Bentall

doi:10.1111/bjhp.12430

COVID-19-Related Anxiety Predicts Somatic Symptoms in the UK Population

M Shevlin, Emma Nolan, Marcin Owczarek, Orla McBride, Jamie Murphy, Jilly Gibson Miller, Todd K Hartman, Liat Levita, Liam Mason, Anton P Martinez, Ryan McKay, Thomas VA Stocks, Kate M Bennett, Philip Hyland, Richard P. Bentall

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

140 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

This study aimed to estimate the association between anxiety associated with COVID-19 and somatic symptoms, using data from a large, representative sample (N = 2,025) of the UK adult population. Results showed that moderate to high levels of anxiety associated with COVID-19 were significantly associated with general somatic symptoms and in particular with gastrointestinal and fatigue symptoms. This pattern of associations remained significant after controlling for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), pre-existing health problems, age, gender, and income. This is the first evidence that anxiety associated with COVID-19 makes a unique contribution to somatization, above and beyond the effect of GAD.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	875-882
Number of pages	8
Journal	British Journal of Health Psychology
Volume	25
Issue number	4
Early online date	27 May 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12430
Publication status	Published (in print/issue) - 1 Nov 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors. British Journal of Health Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 related anxiety
somatic symptoms

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/bjhp.12430Licence: CC BY

BJHP_somatic paperAuthor Accepted Manuscript, 34.3 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Shevlin, M., Nolan, E., Owczarek, M., McBride, O., Murphy, J., Gibson Miller, J., Hartman, T. K., Levita, L., Mason, L., Martinez, A. P., McKay, R., Stocks, T. VA., Bennett, K. M., Hyland, P., & Bentall, R. P. (2020). COVID-19-Related Anxiety Predicts Somatic Symptoms in the UK Population. British Journal of Health Psychology, 25(4), 875-882. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12430

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AU - Hartman, Todd K

AU - Levita, Liat

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COVID-19-Related Anxiety Predicts Somatic Symptoms in the UK Population

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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