Department of Psychological Studies, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, N.T., Hong Kong SAR.
J Affect Disord. 2010 Dec;127(1-3):248-56. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2010.04.029. Epub 2010 May 23.
Epidemiologic data is available on chronic fatigue for Western, but not for Chinese populations. The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence of chronic fatigue in the general population of Hong Kong, compare health and lifestyle characteristics of non-chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue cases, and identify risk factors for chronic fatigue.
We performed telephone interviews on 5001 randomly selected Chinese adults aged ≥18 years administering the Chinese version of Chronic Fatigue Scale (ChCFS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and quality of life (QoL) indexed by Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF12). Lifestyle, and sociodemographic data were also collected. Chronic fatigue was defined according to Fukuda et al.'s (1994) criteria and case criterion was a ChCFS total scores ≥4.
The weighted prevalence of chronic fatigue was 10.7%, which was equivalent to 0.6 million adults in Hong Kong. Higher prevalence rates were found in females, older age groups, and low socioeconomic status. Fully adjusted stepwise regression analyses identified older age, retirees, housewife, existing long-term health problems, higher HADS scores, poor QoL, and low self-perceived health to be significantly associated with increased risk of chronic fatigue, whereas regular exercise was associated with decreased risk of chronic fatigue (all p<0.05).
The cross-sectional design did not allow determination of the time course and causal relationship between chronic fatigue and associated factors.
Our data evidenced that chronic fatigue is common in the general population of Hong Kong, and the prevalence increased with age and was higher in the women and lower socioeconomic population.
慢性疲劳的流行病学数据在西方人群中已有报道，但在中国人群中尚未见报道。本研究旨在确定香港一般人群中慢性疲劳的患病率，比较非慢性疲劳和慢性疲劳病例的健康和生活方式特征，并确定慢性疲劳的危险因素。
我们对 5001 名随机选择的年龄≥18 岁的中国成年人进行了电话访谈，使用中文版慢性疲劳量表（ChCFS）、医院焦虑抑郁量表（HADS）和健康调查简表 12 项（SF12）评估生活质量。还收集了生活方式和社会人口统计学数据。根据 Fukuda 等人（1994 年）的标准和病例标准定义慢性疲劳，即 ChCFS 总分≥4。
慢性疲劳的加权患病率为 10.7%，相当于香港有 60 万成年人患有慢性疲劳。女性、年龄较大的人群和社会经济地位较低的人群患病率较高。完全调整的逐步回归分析发现，年龄较大、退休人员、家庭主妇、存在长期健康问题、HADS 评分较高、生活质量较差和自我感知健康状况较差与慢性疲劳风险增加显著相关，而定期锻炼与慢性疲劳风险降低相关（均 P<0.05）。
横断面设计不允许确定慢性疲劳和相关因素之间的时间进程和因果关系。
我们的数据表明，慢性疲劳在香港的一般人群中很常见，患病率随年龄增长而增加，女性和社会经济地位较低的人群患病率较高。
