Somatic symptoms after a natural disaster: a prospective study

Abstract

The authors prospectively examined the prevalence of somatization symptoms among community respondents after a natural disaster in Puerto Rico. Exposure to the disaster was related to a higher prevalence of medically unexplained physical symptoms, particularly gastrointestinal ones (abdominal pain, vomiting, nausea, excessive gas) and pseudoneurological ones (amnesia, paralysis, fainting, unusual spells/double vision).