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Objectives.

To examine the resource utilization of patients with high levels of somatization and health-related anxiety.

Design.

Consecutive patients on randomly chosen days completed a self-report questionnaire assessing somatization and health-related, hypochondriacal anxiety. Their medical care utilization in the year preceding and following completion of the questionnaire was obtained from an automated patient record. The utilization of patients above and below a predetermined threshold on the questionnaire was then compared.

Patients and Setting.

Eight hundred seventy-six patients attending a primary care clinic in a large, urban, teaching hospital.

Outcome Measures.

Number of ambulatory physician visits (primary care and specialist), outpatient costs (total, physician services, and laboratory procedures), proportion of patients hospitalized, and proportion of patients receiving emergency care.

Results …