Differences in health complaints among university students from three European countries.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this research was to assess the prevalence of somatic and psychosomatic health complaints in a cross-national population of university students and to study risk factors associated with health complaints.

METHODS: The analysis was based on samples of first-year students from Pamplona (Spain), Bielefeld (Germany), and Kaunas (Lithuania). The total sample included 2343 students. Ten health complaints were measured by a symptom checklist with a self-administered questionnaire. Sociodemographic and lifestyle data were also collected. Factor analysis was employed to develop three complaint scores.

RESULTS: Multifactorial logistic regression analysis revealed substantial associations between the factors female gender and psychosocial stress and high levels (>median) of complaint scores. Furthermore, after adjustment for age, sex, and lifestyle variables Lithuanian students were less likely to report gastrointestinal complaints (OR 0.62, CI 0.43-0.90) and neck ache/backache (OR 0.41, CI 0.28-0.61) compared to Spanish students. In addition, German students were less likely to report psychosomatic (OR 0.49, CI 0.35-0.69) and gastrointestinal complaints (OR 0.47, CI 0.34-0.65) than their Spanish peers.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the results cannot be generalized to the general population of the respective countries, the different profiles of reported complaints should give rise to special interventions in this young population.