Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of patients with MUS and MES

	MUS(n = 43)	MES(n = 292)	P‐value
Age means (SD)	50.5 (17.8)	56.7 (17.1)	0.03 h
Familiarity with doctor (%)
Not at all/hardly	17.5	30.5	0.17
Moderate	30.0	29.9
(Very) well	52.5	39.5
Highest education with diploma (%)
No/primary school	11.6	11.4	0.72
Secondary education	58.1	52.3
High school/University	30.2	36.4
Repeated visit for symptoms (%)	76.7	58.9	0.04 h
Male sex (%)	27.9	42.9	0.06
Sickness leave at present (%)	19.0	14.6	0.45
No work outside own house at present (%)	53.5	48.5	0.25
Visit at “own” GP (%)	83.7	75.5	0.24
Anxiety before consultation mean (SD, range 1‐4)	2.10 (0.57)	1.96 (0.64)	0.18
Doctors’ satisfaction with the consultation (%)
Somewhat/mean	18.6	18.8	0.97
(Very) satisfied	81.4	81.2
Physical fitnessa (%)
(Very) heavy	44.2	47.2	0.85
Average	27.9	28.9
(Very) light	27.9	23.9
Being bothered by emotional problemsb (%)
Not at all/little	39.5	72.9	<0.001 h
Average	27.9	12.4
Moderate(ly)/a lot	32.6	14.7
Difficulties in performing daily activitiesc (%)
Hardly/no difficulties	44.2	60.9	0.09
Average	23.3	19.2
Could hardly/not be done	32.6	19.9
Limitations in social activitiesd (%)
Not at all/little	44.2	73.1	<0.001 h
Average	30.2	13.0
Moderate(ly)/a lot	25.6	14.0
Overall healthe (%)
Excellent/good	11.6	29.1	<0.001 h
Average	20.9	33.7
Bad/poor	67.4	37.3
Presence of painf (%)
No/light	19.0	48.9	<0.001 h
Average	31.0	14.7
Moderate/heavy	50.0	36.5
Presence of fatigueg (%)
Not at all/little	31.0	56.8	<0.001 h
Average	28.6	25.0
Moderate(ly)/a lot	40.5	18.2

MES, medically explained symptoms; MUS, medically unexplained symptoms.

The number of presented physical symptoms (n) for the MUS group was as follows: musculoskeletal pain (18), abdominal discomfort (10), tiredness (6), neurological deficit (2), shortness of breath (2), globus sensation (2) headache (1), collapse (1) and hypersensitivity syndrome (1). The number of ICPC codes divided in chapters (n) for the MES group was as follows: musculoskeletal (48), psychological (31), respiratory (31), skin (29), digestive (27), circulatory (26), ear (14), general and unspecified (13), eye (13), endocrine (13), female genital system and breast (8), urology (7), male genital system (7), social problems (7), blood, lymphatics and spleen (4), neurological (4), pregnancy and childbirth (4), unknown (6).

^aHardest physical effort during at least 2 minutes, from “very heavy” to “very light.”

^bExtent of being bothered by emotional problems, from “not at all” to “a lot.”

^cExtent of difficulties in doing daily activities, from “no difficulty” to “could not be done.”

^dExtent to which social activity is limited by physical and emotional health, from “not at all” to “a lot.”

^eOverall health, from “excellent” to “poor.”

^fPresence of pain, from “no” to “heavy.”

^gPresence of fatigue, from “no” to “a lot.”

^hBold values are statistically significant.