![]() The prevalence of formal diagnoses made in patients presenting with fatigue in primary care is not clearly established. depression and anxiety) have been shown to be the most common non-somatic diagnoses made. 11,16–18 Psychosocial causes of fatigue (eg. There is a strong relationship between fatigue (especially if prolonged) and psychological disorders. Medication-related side effects are another key consideration. Common pitfalls include coeliac disease, pregnancy, renal failure and metabolic disturbances. Serious disorders include malignancy, cardiac arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy, anaemia, bacterial infection, haemochromatosis, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and hepatitis C. 15 Probability diagnoses include stress and anxiety, depression, viral/post-viral infection and sleep-related disorders. Murtagh provides a helpful framework for understanding the aetiology by categorising the causes of fatigue into probability diagnoses, serious disorders not to be missed and pitfalls. 7 Adult presentations of fatigue are positively associated with the patient being female 4,8–14 and younger (mean age 34–39 years) 8,9,11 and the GP being female. 4–6 Fatigue is the most common unexplained complaint presenting to general practitioners (GPs). 2 This is similar to the findings from a large UK study (1.5%) 3 but lower than rates of 5–7% reported in other international studies. In the Australian general practice setting, fatigue presents at a rate of 1.4 per 100 encounters. For the purposes of this review article, we regard fatigue as synonymous with tiredness and malaise.įatigue is a common reason for presentation in primary care. 1 It is derived from the Latin fatigare, to tire. usually accompanied by a feeling of weariness, sleepiness, irritability or loss of ambition’. Fatigue is ‘that state … characterised by a lessened capacity or motivation for work.
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