Aetiology

This condition is usually secondary to another illness or personality disorder. The difficulty is explaining why some patients will, for example, develop hypochondriasis secondary to a condition such as depression and others will not. There is little factual information that can point to any predictive factors.

Hypochondriasis is more common among men, lower social class and in the elderly. In depressive illness hypochondriacal symptoms appear to be more common in non- European cultures.

People with underlying anxiety disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder) are at an increased risk of developing illness anxiety disorder. If a person is raised in a family where health anxieties are frequently discussed or if parents were disproportionately concerned about health-related issues, it may also increase the risk.

Reference

1. Scarella TM, Boland RJ, Barsky AJ. Illness Anxiety Disorder: Psychopathology, Epidemiology, Clinical Characteristics, and Treatment. Psychosom Med. 2019 Jun;81(5):398-407.
2. Newby JM, Hobbs MJ, Mahoney AEJ, Wong SK, Andrews G. DSM-5 illness anxiety disorder and somatic symptom disorder: Comorbidity, correlates, and overlap with DSM-IV hypochondriasis. J Psychosom Res. 2017 Oct;101:31-37.