Symptoms within somatization after sexual abuse among women: A scoping review

Abstract

Introduction: Somatization, defined as a number of medically unexplained physical symptoms for many years, is a resource-intensive condition with much suffering. Adult somatization has been linked to childhood trauma in both men and women. Among women, sexual trauma affects somatization level to a greater extent than nonsexual trauma. Early diagnosis of a somatization disorder would be of great help for both patients and society. The purpose of this scoping review is to map and summarize the literature on symptoms within somatization in women who have been sexually abused, and investigate if any specific symptom can be linked to previous sexual abuse.

Material and methods: A scoping review methodology was used. The databases PubMed, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library were searched for original qualitative and quantitative research published between 2008 and 2019 that matched the objectives of the review.

Results: The database search identified 195 articles, of which 43 were retrieved in full text. Seven articles were included, involving 2076 women. All studies were quantitative. The included studies were heterogeneous. Four studies showed inconsistent findings regarding a link between sexual abuse and chronic or acute pain. Two studies showed an association between sexual abuse and increased incidence of somatic symptoms. One study showed an association between sexual abuse and symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. No specific somatic symptoms in somatization were identifiable within the scope of this study.

Conclusions: This is to our knowledge the first scoping review on sexual abuse and symptoms of somatization. The findings suggest a link between sexual abuse and somatic symptoms, but the identified association with pain and irritable bowel syndrome is inconsistent. No studies have clearly identified specific symptoms within somatization associated with sexual abuse. Qualitative research on the topic was identified as a knowledge gap.

Keywords: rape; sexual assault; sexual trauma; somatization.