Persistent somatic symptoms (PSS) are a diagnostic core criterion of the somatic symptom disorder. This longitudinal study aims to determine the frequency of PSS in patients with cardiac disease, identify potential predictive factors, and investigate its impact on healthcare utilization. Somatic symptoms were assessed with the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 four times over the course of three months in consecutively approached cardiac outpatients. Patients were grouped having PSS vs. not having …