A survey released on Sunday shows that about 10.9 percent of Hong Kong adults had hypochondriacal behavior, or excessive fear of having a serious disease even in the absence of any such illnesses.

The survey, conducted by the Hong Kong Mood Disorders Center affiliated to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, reaches the conclusion after a survey of over 3,000 Hong Kong residents.

The survey also finds that adults aged between 45 to 54 report more hypochondriacal behavior, which it says commonly occurs in both male and female.

Among those surveyed, 51.2 percent say they "worry a lot about their health" and 46.6 percent "worry about getting diseases brought to their attention through media or someone they know."

Excessive health concern was usually accompanied by somatic symptoms including sleep problems, limb and joint pain and fatigue or lack of energy, according to the survey report.

"When health concern becomes an excessive preoccupation, it can lead to a vicious spiral of hypochondriacal behavior, somatic symptoms and mood disorders," said Professor Lee Sing, director of the Mood Disorder Center.

"Hypochondriacal behavior can cause significant disturbance to daily life. It's therefore important to educate the public on the subject," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2010)