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Some patients have multiple physical symptoms that impair quality of life but seem out of proportion to detectable physical disease. These patients are difficult to treat, are frequently stigmatized, and often have high healthcare utilization and poor outcomes.
British researchers recruited 350 such patients (80% women; mean age, 46) with moderate or moderately severe symptoms who had received diagnoses of syndromes characterized by multiple physical symptoms (e.g., fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome) and had been referred to specialists at least twice. Participants were randomized to a maximum of four visits to a community-based “symptom clinic” during 6 to 12 weeks plus usual care, or to usual care alone. The symptom clinic was staffed…