DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN CHRONIC AND NONCHRONIC FATIGUE, THE ROLE OF GENDER AND AGE

In this study the authors try to clarify the ambiguities in previous s tudies on demographic and social factors and fatigue. We have divided people with fatigue complaints and associated symptoms into those who have chronic and non-chronic complaints, and into men and women. The r esearch is based on diaries kept by Dutch citizens over a 21-day perio d, and uses univariate and discriminant analyses. The results show the utility of stratification For chronicity, gender and age. Compared to non-chronically fatigued subjects (NCFd) the chronically fatigued sub jects (CFd) reveal multiple sources of vulnerability: physical, psycho logical, psyche-social and socio-economic. They report more days of fa tigue, they tend to be older, and their physical health is characteriz ed by significantly more acute complaints and chronic disease. Their s um scores on psychological and psycho-social problems are above averag e. Their health histories are worse,; they express greater feelings of frustration and irritation due to their ailments and report more heal th-related initiatives. The socio-economic profile of the CFd is disad vantaged: their educational level, occupational classification and inc ome are lower than that of the NCFd, and they are more frequently unem ployed. CFd women are more frequently divorced or widowed than NCFd wo men. The factors predicting chronic vs non-chronic fatigue vary with t he age and gender of the population. It is easier to predict non-chron ic than chronic fatigue. Additional stratification within the group of CFd is recommended. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserve d.