[Epidemiologic study of chronic fatigue in primary care (general practice)].

Observed Findings

• 11% of the cross-sectional sample and 17% of the prospective sample (post-viral infection) met operational criteria for chronic fatigue state.
• The prospective sample of post-viral patients reported higher fatigue levels than the general cross-sectional sample.
• Duration, frequency, and severity of fatigue were continuously distributed across both populations rather than showing discrete thresholds.
• The majority of patients meeting chronic fatigue criteria had a diagnosable psychiatric disorder, predominantly depression.
• Primary care patients attributed their fatigue to mixed causes: social stresses, current physical illness, and psychological problems—in contrast to hospital clinic patients.

Inferred Conclusions

• Primary care patients with chronic fatigue do not constitute a distinct clinical entity based on their heterogeneous presentations and attributions.
• Psychiatric comorbidity, particularly depression, is a predominant feature of fatigued primary care patients meeting chronic fatigue criteria.
• Physical illness alone is inadequate to explain the observed fatigue severity in these patient groups.
• Primary care populations with chronic fatigue differ substantially from hospital clinic-based chronic fatigue syndrome populations in disease conviction and causal attribution.

Remaining Questions