Abstract
The subjective symptom of “fatigue” is one of the most widespread in the general population
and is a major source of healthcare utilization. Prolonged fatigue is often associated
with neuropsychological and musculoskeletal symptoms that form the basis of several
syndromal diagnoses including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and neurasthenia,
and is clearly not simply the result of a lack of force generation from the muscle.
Current epidemiologic research in this area relies predominantly on self-report data
to document the prevalence and associations of chronic fatigue. Of necessity, this
subjective data source gives rise to uncertain diagnostic boundaries and consequent
divergent epidemiologic, clinical, and pathophysiologic research findings. This review
will highlight the impact of the case definition and ascertainment methods on the
varying prevalence estimates of chronic fatigue syndrome and patterns of reported
psychological comorbidty. It will also evaluate the evidence for a true postinfective
fatigue syndrome.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 16, 2004
Identification
Copyright
© 1998 Excerpta Medica Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
