Research Center for CFS/ME, Daejeon Oriental Hospital of Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Department of Health Service Management, Daejeon University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 28;11:1192121. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1192121. eCollection 2023.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Identifier: CRD42021270498.
疲劳是最常见的影响日常生活并预测与健康相关事件的主观症状之一。本研究旨在估计全球人群中疲劳的患病率。
使用 PubMed 和 Cochrane 图书馆检索从成立到 2021 年 12 月 31 日的相关文献。选择了具有一般人群疲劳患病率数据的研究，并由三位作者独立进行了综述和交叉检查。对于亚组，成年人（≥18 岁）、未成年人（<18 岁）和特定职业人群（每项研究的参与者限于特定职业群体），以及疲劳类型和严重程度，进行了荟萃分析以产生点估计值和 95%置信区间（95%CI）。
从最初的 3432 项研究中，最终选择了 91 项研究，共包含 115 个患病率数据点（623624 名参与者）。成年人中一般疲劳（持续时间<6 个月的疲劳或未指定持续时间的疲劳）的患病率为 20.4%（95%CI，16.7-25.0），未成年人中为 11.7%（95%CI，5.2-26.6），特定职业人群中为 42.3%（95%CI，33.0-54.2）。慢性疲劳（持续时间超过 6 个月的疲劳）影响了 10.1%（95%CI，8.2-12.5）的成年人、1.5%（95%CI，0.5-4.7）的未成年人和特定职业人群中 5.5%（95%CI，1.4-21.6）。所有亚组分析均显示总体女性患病率较高，总优势比为 1.4（95%CI，1.3-1.6）。关于严重程度和医疗原因的存在，中度疲劳的总患病率[14.6%（95%CI，9.8-21.8）]是重度疲劳的 2.4 倍[6.1%（95%CI，3.4-11.0）]，而无明显原因的疲劳（个体没有任何潜在的医疗状况可以解释疲劳）是有明确原因的疲劳的 2.7 倍（个体患有可以解释疲劳的医疗状况）；其中 40.0%为身体原因，8.6%为精神原因，28.4%为混合原因。
本研究首次全面描述了一般人群中全球疲劳的患病率，这将为与疲劳相关的研究提供重要的参考数据，包括疾病的预防。
标识符：CRD42021270498。
