손창규 (대전대학교 한의과대학(대전한방병원, 만성피로증후군연구센터)) | 상위피인용논문 > 한빛사

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대전대학교 한의과대학(대전한방병원, 만성피로증후군연구센터)

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Front. Public Health, 2023, 11 1192121 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1192121 The demographic features of fatigue in the general population worldwide: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ji-Hae Yoon ^{# 1}, Na-Hyun Park ^{# 1}, Ye-Eun Kang^{# 1}, Yo-Chan Ahn², Eun-Jung Lee³, Chang-Gue Son^{1 4 *}

¹Research Center for CFS/ME, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
²Department of Health Service Management, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
³Department of Korean Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
⁴Institute of Bioscience and Integrative Medicine, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

^#These authors contributed equally

^*Corresponding author: correspondence to Chang-Gue Son

Abstract

Background
Fatigue is one of the most common subjective symptoms that impairs daily life and predict health-related events. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of fatigue in the global population.

Methods
PubMed and the Cochrane Library were used to search for relevant articles from inception to December 31, 2021. Studies with prevalence data of fatigue in the general population were selected and reviewed by three authors independently and cross-checked. Regarding subgroups, adults (≥18 years), minors (<18 years), and specific occupation population (participants in each study being limited to a specific occupational group), and fatigue types and severity, meta-analysis was conducted to produce point estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).

Results
From the initial 3,432 studies, 91 studies accounting for 115 prevalence data points (623,624 participants) were finally selected. The prevalence of general fatigue (fatigue lasting < 6 months, or fatigue of unspecified duration) was 20.4% (95% CI, 16.7–25.0) in adults, 11.7% (95% CI, 5.2–26.6) in minors, and 42.3% (95% CI, 33.0–54.2) in specific occupations. Chronic fatigue (fatigue lasting more than 6 months) affected 10.1% (95% CI, 8.2–12.5) of adults, 1.5% (95% CI, 0.5–4.7) of minors, and 5.5% (95% CI, 1.4–21.6) of subjects in specific occupations. There was an overall female-predominant prevalence for all subgroup analyses, with a total odds ratio of 1.4 (95% CI, 1.3–1.6). Regarding the severity and presence of medical causes, the total prevalence of moderate fatigue [14.6% (95% CI, 9.8–21.8)] was 2.4-fold that of severe fatigue [6.1% (95% CI, 3.4–11.0)], while unexplained fatigue (fatigue experienced by individuals without any underlying medical condition that can explain the fatigue) was ~2.7-fold that of explained fatigue (fatigue experienced by individuals with a medical condition that can explain the fatigue); as proportion of 40.0% of physical, 8.6% of mental, and 28.4% of mixed cause.

Conclusions
This study has produced the first comprehensive picture of global fatigue prevalence in the general population, which will provide vital reference data contributing to fatigue-related research, including the prevention of diseases.

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