Source
Tampere School of Public Health, FIN-33014, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. aino.mattila@uta.fi
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Alexithymia is thought to reflect a deficit in the cognitive processing of emotion, and, therefore, it may predispose individuals to both psychological and somatic symptoms.
OBJECTIVE:
The authors investigated the relationship between alexithymia and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a nationally representative population sample of 5,418 subjects, age 30 to 97 years.
METHOD:
Alexithymia was measured with the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and HRQoL measured with the 15D, a generic HRQoL measure.
RESULTS:
Alexithymia was significantly associated with lower HRQoL independently of other variables. The TAS-20 subfactor Difficulties Identifying Feelings was the strongest common denominator between alexithymia and HRQoL.
CONCLUSION:
Alexithymia may be a predisposing factor to poorer HRQoL.