POPULATION-BASED STUDY OF FATIGUE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

Objectives-To determine the prevalence of fatigue in the general popul ation and the factors associated with fatigue. Design-Postal survey. S etting-Six general practices in southern England. Subjects-31 651 men and women aged 18-45 years registered with the practices. Main outcome measures-Responses to the 12 item general health questionnaire and a fatigue questionnaire which included self reported measures of duratio n, severity, and causes of fatigue. Results-15 283 valid questionnaire s were returned, giving a response rate of 48.3%, (64% after adjustmen t for inaccuracies in the practice registers). 2798 (18.3%) of respond ents reported substantial fatigue lasting six months or longer. Fatigu e and psychological morbidity were moderately correlated (r = 0.62). W omen were more likely to complain of fatigue than men, even after adju stment for psychological distress. The commonest cited reasons for fat igue were psychosocial (40% of patients). Of 2798 patients with excess ive tiredness, only 38 (1.4%) attributed this to the chronic fatigue s yndrome. Conclusion-Fatigue is distributed as a continuous variable in the community and is closely associated with psychological morbidity.