JRSM > Volume 97, Number 12 > Pp. 571-575

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) A correction has been published Send a Quick Comment Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Quick Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gallagher, A. M Articles by White, P. D Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Incidence of fatigue symptoms and diagnoses presenting in UK primary care from 1990 to 2001

Arlene M Gallagher MSc  ¹ Janice M Thomas MSc  ¹ William T Hamilton FRCGP  ²   Peter D White MD  ¹

¹ Centre for Psychiatry and Department of Information Services, Queen Mary School of Medicine and Dentistry, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London EC1A 7BE
² Division of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol, Bristol BS6 6JL, UK

Correspondence to: Professor P D White, Department of Psychological Medicine, Barts and the London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, St Bartholomew's Hospital, London EC1A 7BE, UK E-mail: p.d.white{at}qmul.ac.uk

Little is known about whether the incidence of symptoms of fatigue presented in primary care, and the consequent diagnoses made, change over time. The UK General Practice Research Database was used to investigate the annual incidence of both fatigue symptoms and diagnoses recorded in UK primary care from 1990 to 2001.

The overall incidence of all fatigue diagnoses decreased from 87 per 100 000 patients in 1990 to 49 in 2001, a reduction of 44%, while postviral fatigue syndromes decreased from 81% of all fatigue diagnoses in 1990 to 60% in 2001. Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) together increased from 9% to 26% of all fatigue diagnoses. The incidence of fibromyalgia increased from less than 1 per 100 000 to 35 per 100 000. In contrast, there was no consistent change in the incidence of all recorded symptoms of fatigue, with an average of 1503 per 100 000, equivalent to 1.5% per year. CFS/ME and fibromyalgia were rarely diagnosed in children and were uncommon in the elderly. All symptoms and diagnoses were more common in females than in males.

The overall incidence of fatigue diagnoses in general has fallen, but the incidence rates of the specific diagnoses of CFS/ME and fibromyalgia have risen, against a background of little change in symptom reporting. This is likely to reflect fashions in diagnostic labelling rather than true changes in incidence.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. J. Cho, P. R. Menezes, M. Hotopf, D. Bhugra, and S. Wessely Comparative epidemiology of chronic fatigue syndrome in Brazilian and British primary care: prevalence and recognition The British Journal of Psychiatry, February 1, 2009; 194(2): 117 - 122. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Simon Tiredness, fatigue and lethargy InnovAiT, March 1, 2008; 1(3): 199 - 205. [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Ismail and G. Lewis Multi-symptom illnesses, unexplained illness and Gulf War Syndrome Phil Trans R Soc B, April 29, 2006; 361(1468): 543 - 551. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Brautbar, D. Elstein, B. Pines, N. Krienen, J. Hemmer, D. Buskila, and A. Zimran Fibromyalgia and Gaucher's disease QJM, February 1, 2006; 99(2): 103 - 107. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Carter Thingamijigs, wotsits and the naming of things J Child Health Care, December 1, 2005; 9(4): 242 - 243. [PDF]

				W Hamilton, T J Peters, A Round, and D Sharp What are the clinical features of lung cancer before the diagnosis is made? A population based case-control study Thorax, December 1, 2005; 60(12): 1059 - 1065. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E Berger Brain imaging in fatigue syndromes J R Soc Med, March 1, 2005; 98(3): 135 - 135. [Full Text] [PDF]

				Incidence of fatigue symptoms and diagnoses presenting in UK primary care from 1990 to 2001 J R Soc Med, February 1, 2005; 98(2): 88 - 88. [Full Text] [PDF]