Centre for the Economics of Mental Health, Health Services Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London, UK.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2010 Mar 4;10:56. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-10-56.
Nearly 1 in 10 in the population experience fatigue of more than six months at any one time. Chronic fatigue is a common reason for consulting a general practitioner, and some patients report their symptoms are not taken seriously enough. A gap in perceptions may occur because doctors underestimate the impact of fatigue on patients' lives. The main aim of the study is to explore the economic impact of chronic fatigue in patients seeking help from general practitioners and to identify characteristics that explain variations in costs.
The design of study was a survey of patients presenting to general practitioners with unexplained chronic fatigue. The setting were 29 general practice surgeries located in the London and South Thames regions of the English National Health Service. Use of services over a six month period was measured and lost employment recorded. Regression models were used to identify factors that explained variations in these costs.
The mean total cost of services and lost employment across the sample of 222 patients was 3878 pounds for the six-month period. Formal services accounted for 13% of this figure, while lost employment accounted for 61% and informal care for 26%. The variation in the total costs was significantly related to factors linked to the severity of the condition and social functioning.
The economic costs generated by chronic fatigue are high and mostly borne by patients and their families. Enquiry about the functional consequences of fatigue on the social and occupational lives of patients may help doctors understand the impact of fatigue, and make patients feel better understood.
几乎每 10 个人中就有 1 人在任何时候都会经历长达六个月以上的疲劳。慢性疲劳是看全科医生的常见原因，有些患者报告说他们的症状没有得到足够的重视。医生可能会低估疲劳对患者生活的影响，从而导致看法上的差距。这项研究的主要目的是探讨在向全科医生寻求帮助的慢性疲劳患者中，疲劳对经济的影响，并确定解释成本差异的特征。
研究设计是对出现不明原因慢性疲劳的全科医生就诊患者进行调查。研究地点是英格兰国民保健署位于伦敦和南泰晤士地区的 29 家全科诊所。在六个月的时间内测量使用服务的情况，并记录失业情况。使用回归模型来确定可以解释这些成本差异的因素。
在 222 名患者的样本中，服务和失业的总费用在六个月内平均为 3878 英镑。正规服务占这个数字的 13%，而失业占 61%，非正式护理占 26%。总费用的变化与与病情严重程度和社会功能相关的因素显著相关。
慢性疲劳产生的经济成本很高，主要由患者及其家属承担。询问疲劳对患者社会和职业生活的功能后果，可能有助于医生了解疲劳的影响，让患者感到被更好地理解。
